


Garcy Ever After - A #FlynnFriday Imagines Series

by Burgundy_In_Chaucer, DoctorLia, DraejonSoul, mks57, RedGold, UnUnpredictableMe (DraejonSoul)



Series: #Flynn Friday Imagines [3]
Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Canon Divergence, Christmas Isn't Canon, F/M, Garcy meets the family, Grief/Mourning, One Shot Collection, Post-Series, Wyjess, garcy, garcy au, riya - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:33:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 49,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22982554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgundy_In_Chaucer/pseuds/Burgundy_In_Chaucer, https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorLia/pseuds/DoctorLia, https://archiveofourown.org/users/DraejonSoul/pseuds/DraejonSoul, https://archiveofourown.org/users/mks57/pseuds/mks57, https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedGold/pseuds/RedGold, https://archiveofourown.org/users/DraejonSoul/pseuds/UnUnpredictableMe
Summary: Part of the #Flynn Friday Imagines series: One-shots (or a few over-arching chapters) following Flynn and Lucy's life after Rittenhouse.CHAPTER 10: Bachelor PartyFlynn, Wyatt, and Rufus decide to go bar hopping. They return the next day and try to explain to their significant others what transpired the night before
Relationships: Garcia Flynn/Lucy Preston, Jessica Logan/Wyatt Logan, Rufus Carlin/Jiya
Series: #Flynn Friday Imagines [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1647451
Comments: 46
Kudos: 69





	1. Meeting The (Asshole) Parent (Garcy)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [From Lia's #FlynnFriday imagine](https://twitter.com/thaliashadow02/status/1215532882665574400): Lucy takes Garcia home to meet her father. Both men are immediately annoyed with each other. Garcia doesn't like how Ben talks to Lucy, and Ben doesn't like that Garcia isn't American.

Lucy takes Garcia home to meet her father. Both men are immediately annoyed with each other. Garcia doesn't like how Ben talks to Lucy, and Ben doesn't like that Garcia isn't American. 

Garcia amps up his Most Annoying Self & just lets his old heavy accent loose, makes muttered side comments in Croatian, butchers American expressions to goad Ben more. 

Lucy wants to yell at him, but is enjoying the apoplectic look her father does when Garcia does his Thing.

Lucy rolls her eyes at Garcia's antics, but she knows this is going to be a long weekend with both men antagonizing each other every step of the way. Her father will no doubt have a talk with her about her choice in men. It'll only get worse when he finds out Garcia proposed.

"Do you really need him to walk you down the aisle? Because I have uncles and great-uncles and cousins who are more than happy to do that," Garcia suggests.

“He's my father."

"He's an asshole."

Lucy rolls her eyes. He's right of course, but her father loved her, despite being set in his ways. "He'll be upset if he doesn't get to walk me. Besides, we have to **tell** him first."

Garcia points to her father on the patio "Go on, I’ll wait."

She casts an alarmed glance at her father's back. " _By myself_? I thought we'd do this together!"

"Clearly he's not inclined to listen to **anything** I say because he can't get past my 'accent'."

She takes his hand and gives him a look that does him in. "Can you at least try?"

After a deep and heavy sigh, he agrees and Lucy drags him to her father.

Ben smiles at his daughter, but it drops as soon as he sees Garcia. "We have something to tell you."

"You're pregnant."

Garcia chuckles as Lucy sputters for words, "NO! We're getting married!"

"No, you’re not."

"I'm afraid so." Garcia takes her hand. "It's a mutual decision, and I can assure you, your daughter jumped into this decision 100%.

"Lucy loves and wants you to be a part of our happiness. It's up to you if you'd like to be part of that. Accept it or not, we ARE getting married. Sir."

Ben is frowning. Garcia is speaking properly, and his asshole future father-in-law must realize he's been trolled. Ooops. He should have been consistent.

"Either I've gotten use to your thick accent or you've been lying this entire time." Ben states before turning to Lucy and giving her a look. "Are you pregnant?"

"Not yet." Garcia answered sarcastically.

Lucy just takes a deep calming breath as the men glare at each other. "No."

Garcia looks at her surprised, but Lucy rolls her eyes at him. "I’m talking to him. I’m not pregnant, but I plan on having children with Garcia."

Ben looks at them and grunts before standing, "If you came for my blessing you won't be receiving it. I love you, but I wont allow this."

Tears build behind her eyes, breathes through it. Her dad could be SO maddening!

Garcia lifts their joined hands, kissing her knuckles. " _Što god poželite_. Lucy," he murmurs with a small smile.

She then decides. "I love you, too, dad, but I guess it's time I set out on my own."

Ben nods once and crosses his arms. "I see your mind is set on… this one. I'll be cutting you off. Amy may be the wild card, but she hasn't disappointed me like you or Ethan."

Lucy just lowers her head and Garcia wraps her in his arms, "You're a bastard, you know."

Ben walks away.

Lucy squeezes him tight and lets the tears fall quietly.

"It's okay, Lucy." Garcia rubs her back. "We will get through this." He freezes in his motions as an idea hits.

"Say we visit your grandfather and see what he says, eh?"

"You can meet my brother, Ethan. He lives with our grandfather." She says through tears, watching as her father walks further away.

Garcia kisses her head and throws another glare at Ben, "Maybe your brother can walk you down the aisle?"

"Maybe." She says as she wipes her tears.

They walk away, Garcia's arm still around Lucy. He wants to tell her that family isn't only by blood; there’s Denise. Connor. Rufus. Jiya. Even Wyatt.

Him.

He lets her have this moment of loss. If it gets too much to bear, he'll be right there for her. Whatever she needs.

"I can grab our bags from the room if you want to wait in the car." Garcia said, the SUV before them.

"Can you? I don’t wanna see my father." Her voice is sad. Garcia hopes he runs into the older man so he can yell at him properly, without Lucy present.

"I’ll be right back."

It didn't take long to run into her dad. "Came back to gloat, Mr. Flynn?"

"Only thing worth coming back for were the bags, Ben."

"Listen here—"

"No. Cutting Lucy off meant we have nothing more to say to each other. You may be losing your daughter forever, and it _is_ your fault that you'll lose the respect of a brilliant, marvelous woman that she is. But you wouldn't know that if you can't see past your proud legacy, or whatever the name of the high horse you're on is. She never needed the blessing from someone who treats her like property."

Ben rolls his eyes. He had gotten this speech from his father after Ethan had come out and he was honestly tired of people scolding him for protecting his legacy. "Lucy is just like her mother. Leaving her family because she fell for a man that is nothing. Your words don't mean anything to me, Mr. Flynn. Close the door on your way out."

Flynn has half a mind to punch the older man, but he doesn't want to upset Lucy by beating her father to a pulp. After a deep breath, he grabs the bags and walks out the door. He leaves it open, because fuck him.

"Your dad has a way with people, huh?" Garcia said brightly when he gets into the SUV with Lucy. This earns him a watery smile.

"You _did_ leave him in one piece, didn't you?"

"Of course! I even checked his pulse and made sure I wiped down for prints before leaving."

"GARCIA!"

He chuckles as he starts the car, "Relax, Lucy. I walked out before I hit him."

Lucy just huffs, only imagining what her father could have said to her fiance. "I can't believe he cut me off, just because I'm marrying you. There's nothing wrong with you." 

Garcia smirks at her. "Well, I'm glad my future wife thinks so. Her approval is the only thing that matters to me right now."

Noticing her stunned silence, Garcia puts a hand on her knee. "We'll be alright. Besides, you still have two more relatives you can bully into 'giving you away'."

Lucy finally laughs and Garcia smiles at the sound. It’s the first time he’s heard it all week since Lucy was too nervous about the meeting with Ben.

"I'm sure I don't have to bully my brother into it. Grandpa Ethan, on the other hand, will probably try and intimidate you."

He couldn't contain the laughter. "He's met me! What makes you think that would work??"

She beams at him, delighted at his glee. "It's been some 50 years. At least, give him a chance to show what he can do, hmm?"

He rolls his eyes playfully. "The things I put up for you, _draga_."

"It's because you love me, right?" Lucy bites her lip and smiles over at him.

Garcia just shakes his head at her question. "Of course I do. And if being 'intimidated' by your grandfather shows that, then he can try and do his worst." He stops at a red light and leans over for a kiss.


	2. Broken Pieces Fit Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [#Flynn Friday imagine](https://twitter.com/thaliashadow02/status/1215552392823033856): _"Flynn is home for the weekend and takes Lucy out for dinner. When she starts to question the bruises/marks on his face, he breaks and tells her about his assignment. Angst. Make me cry."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We start each chapter with the prompt as the first replies mostly always jump into the telling of the story instead of going through an intro, as stories usually go. We'll keep the narration as close to how it was posted on Twitter. No guarantees that we'll add some intro paragraphs on our newer prompts, though. ^^ ~ Daiji/UnUnpredictableMe

Flynn is home for the weekend and takes Lucy out for dinner. When she starts to question the bruises/marks on his face, he breaks and tells her about his assignment. 

He explains after dinner that his team broke into a child trafficking ring. He was sent home early because he beat one of the traffickers, who was using a little brown-haired girl as a human shield.

Lucy brings him home and then holds him the entire night as he cries himself to sleep. She tells him she loves him the entire time.

Lucy wakes to Flynn's restless shifting. He's muttering incoherently. She tries to soothe him, talk him down, but he doesn't settle. From his vague murmurs, Lucy barely makes out a name.

"Iris." He mutters again and Lucy knows she has to wake him. He is drenched in sweat and shaking, so she gently brushes his hair from his face and calls his name. When he doesn't respond, she calls his name louder.

He springs from the bed, arms out in front, ready to attack his demons.

Lucy calls out again, softly. Recognition and realization reflects in his eyes as they land on her, he crumples in on himself in a mixture of lingering grief and shame. She doesn't need to see him battling old phantoms; Flynn couldn't stomach the thought of dragging her in his past.

Lucy calls him back to bed, but Flynn just shakes off her hand, grabs his pillow and heads out to the living room. He settles on the couch with a heavy sigh as tears silently make their way down his face. Lucy makes her way to him after a few moments, giving him the time he needs.

She follows him down a few minutes later, making them some tea. She puts the mug in the hand that wasn't shoved into his hair, quietly sits by him with a hand on his back. 

"You might think I shouldn't be here, but I'm not going anywhere," Lucy reminds him in a whisper.

He just nods at her and puts the mug on the coffee table. He grabs her hand and holds it tightly. "M'sorry." He mutters with a sniffle.

Lucy just wraps his hand in a hug, shaking her head. "Don't. I don't know what you're going through, but I'll be right here when you need me."

He's too choked up to say anything, and curls into himself further. 

Lucy sighs, exasperated and fond, gently tugs him down so he lays his head in her lap, hands in his hair and shoulder.

When the silence felt too stifling, Lucy begins to softly hum to herself.

She can feel his tears soaking into her pants, but she doesn't mind. Just continues to hum.

"Lucy, c-can y-you...sing? Please?" He asked in a whisper, somehow sinking further into her couch.

"Alright." Lucy thinks for a moment as she continues to run her hand through his hair.

She didn't think, really, when the words for "You Made Me Love You" comes out. For one terrified second, she freezes at the first line, the memory that came with the song, what happened that night, a lifetime ago.

Her fears were unfounded when she hears Flynn's quiet chuckle.

"Sorry..." She mutters with a blush.

Flynn looks up at her and smiles through his tears. He readjusts himself to lie looking up at her. "It's fine." He takes her hand and kisses it before placing it on his chest. 

"I don't say it enough, but I love you," he whispers to her.

"I think you've had enough work for tonight," she keeps her voice light, trying to depart from the fact it was work that triggered his nightmare in the first place. "I noticed the book I gave you hasn't been touched for a few days now."

Pink tints his cheeks. "Yeah, I guess I can read it in bed." He looks over at the coffee table where he left the book a few nights prior.

"Good. I'll grab some water and you head up." Lucy softly instructs him.

Flynn does as he’s told. And when Lucy arrives in their room, he is looking nervously at his work bag.

She sighs, leaning against the door. "Tell you what. If you think there's work that can't wait in the morning, I'll let you take a peek at it - _after_ you read at least ten pages from your book." 

Flynn is a fairly fast reader, but tends to get really into it when interested.

"No… I just… I have to write up what happened." He shifts on the bed, almost like he is trying to get away from the contents in the bag.

Lucy walks over to it and places it outside of the door. He looks calmer when she walks back in, and he has the book in his hand.

She smiles at him - her beautiful, damaged, stubborn man. Snuggling up to him as he starts to read, she sighs contentedly as she feels his arm surrounding her and a gentle pressure at the top of her head.

" _Hvala, ljubavi._.."

"You speaking Croatian gets me all hot, but I'm too tired right now." Lucy mumbles into his shirt, making him chuckle.

"Ma'am, I've been ordered to read by my girlfriend. I don't think she'd like me flirting with you."

"Feeling better, huh?"

"...No. Just lightening the mood."

Warmth fills her hearing him call her his girlfriend. That, and she could never get over the empowering feeling that she could order this hulk of a man around, yet still be wanted and loved. 

"Well, keep reading, mister. I'll just be here: warm, cozy, soon-to-be-snoring lump."

Flynn kisses her temple and breathed her in. "I'm sorry, I'm such a mess." He whispers into her hair.

Lucy hummed and snuggled closer to him, "Our damaged pieces fit perfectly together. Don't ever apologize for that."

Tears sting his eyes, "You're not damaged."

"Neither are you."

"We will be here all night arguing our point," he points out, chuckling.

"Agree to disagree, then," she murmurs and places a kiss below the cut on his cheek.

"Go to sleep, Lucy. I'll try and read a few pages." He promises as he tucks her more securely into his side. All he gets in response is a grunt and he chuckles.

A few moments pass before her voice pulls him from the book, "Garcia?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Hvala, ljubavi_ = Thank you, my love


	3. Meet the Flynn Family (Garcy)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [#FlynnFriday imagine](https://twitter.com/thaliashadow02/status/1207907190805270528): Garcia brings Lucy to meet his parents for the first time. Maria decides to embarrass him by bringing dusting off the old VCR and popping in a fee home videos.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This imagine post has split threads about ¾ of the way, and the other threads are too good NOT to post, so they’re added as interludes. You’ll see what I mean. ~Daiji

Garcia brings Lucy to meet his parents for the first time. Maria decides to embarrass him by bringing dusting off the old VCR and popping in a few home videos.

The baby videos and photos. Family pictures and awards. And pictures with Lorena and Iris. They'd totally keep up photos of Lorena and Iris. 

Baby face Iris being held by her Daddy. 

Video of Iris taking her first steps and Garcia singing/rocking her to sleep

The entire family singing Iris happy birthday. The banner saying 'Happy 5th' and Lorena looks so happy and beautiful. Garcia bringing out the cake.

Iris smashing her hands into the cake and having fun while Garcia and Lorena try to stop her from being burnt by the lit candles.

The last video Lorena sent Maria of Garcia napping on the couch with Iris sleeping on his chest. Lorena saying how excited they were to be spending the holidays with them.

The young Flynn family sends so many photos of Iris to her grandparents, Maria has them all printed, and she'd have thick ALBUMS (yes, plural) of just Iris alone, for every year.

After Garcia was accused and branded a terrorist, Maria and Asher went to his house and boxed up almost everything. Keeping the photo albums and videos. No one in the family believed Garcia to be capable of what they said.

They keep all the mementos, with the hope that Garcia will one day come home, and they will personally give it to him. And they will tell them that they never doubted him.

And they will entertain Lucy as he sits in the back room watching videos of his girls. Until Lucy decides that she's his family too and then all of them sit there crying with Lucy holding his hand the entire time.

Asher and Lucy leave Garcia and Maria for mother and son to talk. Gabriel finally arrives, Lucy sits with Asher and chats with Gabriel, hoping to know more of this Garcia's timeline.

Garcia ends up telling Maria _everything_. While Lucy uses her time making sure that before Rittenhouse, Gabriel and Garcia were on good terms because she knows how much Garcia wants to know his brother. Gabe is all too happy to talk about his little brother with Lucy, so he can embarrass him.

Lucy, sensing the emotional state Garcia would be after a talk with his mom, suggests she be the one to let mother and son that Gabe arrived, to give Garcia a chance to decide if he wants to talk to his brother or not. She takes a glance at Maria, wondering how much Garcia told her.

Garcia doesn’t want to as he'd be a mess and would want to speak with Gabe when he has a clearer head. Gabe doesn’t accept that and goes into the room and hugs his baby brother anyway. Tells him they can talk in the morning, but he just misses him.

Gabe playfully gives him a knuckle shampoo, to Garcia's consternation, but reminds himself in time this is what brothers do, unclenching the hand looking for a gun on his hip. Lucy notices, and gives him that Look. He slips out of the hold instead, considers flicking Gabe's ear hard. Garcia doesn’t really know how to react since he didn't grow up with Gabe. He looks to Lucy for advice, but ultimately just hugs his brother back.

(There will be ear flicking, one day, It will take a minute for an only child to adapt to suddenly having a sibling and knowing how to act.)

* * *

**_INTERLUDE ONE_ **

_(Later)_

_Garcia would have so many questions for Lucy and possibly Rufus because he remembers how he acted with his friends, but would that be how siblings act? Is sibling rivalry a thing? Should he just fake amnesia?_

_His Facetime with Rufus earns him a "DUDE" and an eyeroll. Tells him brothers are the first best friends he'd have, imagining Garcia trailing Gabe around, a gangly puppy fanboy. Rufus sniggers at the thought. For a strategist, Garcia can be an idiot. Lucy, off-frame, agrees._

**_END INTERLUDE ONE_ **

* * *

  
  


Maria will tell him when he's ready to hear it. But even Gabe can tell that his little brother is withdrawn so he promises to visit in a few days after he's more settled. Maria, Asher, and Lucy can take care of him until then.

Lucy has mixed feelings—amused, heartbroken, sad?—seeing such a big man look so small in the arms of his mother. She gives them their space; Garcia will seek her out when he's ready. 

She goes to the porch for some air, Gabe is there. He looks troubled.

Gabriel would definitely ask if Garcia was truly okay because his brother was never one to shy away from affection. He knows Garcia has changed, but also knows something is… different about him. Lucy wouldn't say anything, but tries and reassure him that Garcia just needs time.

Gabriel paces outside his parents' (he's accepted Ash as his dad) porch. This Thing that's going on with his brother feels deeper beyond the grief from loss, if there was such a thing. Something scarred his little brother deeply and it's eating at Gabe that he had to wait it out.

Gabe would chalk it up to being on the run from the government and being branded a terrorist. Or, at least, he'd allow that excuse because there is _definitely_ something up with Garcia, but he'd be willing to give him time. But he won't wait forever for answers.

The next day isn't any better. The tension around the Flynns is so tangible, and Lucy feels they're all treading carefully around Garcia. For someone very perceptible of her thoughts/moods, Garcia is too wrung out to notice. Lucy wants to do something.

* * *

**_NTERLUDE TWO: Chronicle of A Boy Soldier_ **

_One wonders, but where are the videos that Garcia made after joining the War of Independence and other subsequent conflicts? You know, the ones he made and sent back to his mother in case he never came home…_

_Those videos are there, but Maria keeps them separate as it was a very terrifying time. Garcia had run off to the army without either parent knowing. Just sending videos back telling them he wants to do something they can be proud of him for._

_One of the last videos from him, he was fighting in Somalia. He looks really worn out, battered more than usual. Maria stares in horror at the long (clearly) recently healed scar at his right temple. Garcia smiles at the camera, but there's the constant trepidation behind them._

_Garcia never told them it was the damnedest thing he was still alive. They were escorting a group of journalists and UN delegates when they were ambushed. His unit fought them off, gathered their captives. He didn't realize one still had a gun aimed at him._

_Someone called out his name—his real name. He turned his head, then felt the blinding pain through his skull._

__

_He was surprised to have woken up. He asked about the delegation his group shadowed, the woman who called out, but the person shrugged; must be one of the journalists. They never saw her again, after she asked how Garcia was._

**_END INTERLUDE TWO_ **


	4. It Happened One Weekend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [#FlynnFriday imagine](https://twitter.com/thalia_msr/status/1235815146112438279): Flynn and Lucy are on a road trip from California to Texas to witness Wyjess renew their vows. A sudden argument between the two on the way forces Flynn to finally admit his feelings for her.
> 
> #Garcy #GarcyWeekend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit to @mks57 for the manip! ❤

"You're driving there, with Flynn?" Jiya asked the day before Lucy was set to leave with Flynn.

"Well, he's still on the no-fly list," Lucy explained as she packs. "And planes agitate my claustrophobia."

"Yeah, but... Flynn."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Jiya thought for a second. "You know what, nevermind. It'll be fun. Take my camera!"

Lucy eyed Jiya warily... but ultimately, what could Lucy do? Tomorrow, bright and early, she would drive to Tucson, AZ with Flynn. They would stay overnight. Then finish the drive to West, Texas.

What could possibly go wrong?

Jiya and Rufus were flying to Texas, since they had work to get done, but Lucy and Flynn had decided that a road trip would be fun. Not to mention they hadn't seen much of each other since Connor had given him a job at the new and improved Mason Industries.

"Do you miss him?" Jiya asked.

"Flynn? We had dinner last Saturday."

Jiya rolled her eyes to the high heavens. "Lucy, you used to share a bed with the man. You know what I mean."

"Your point?" Lucy purposely played dumb, not wanting to have this conversation AGAIN with her friend.

Jiya shrugged. "You tell me. You're going to the wedding of someone you slept with—"

"—ONCE. That was ONE time—"

"—and you're on this road trip with another man who you've gotten close with but never...?"

Lucy held up a hand. "Flynn and I are friends. Okay? There's nothing going on."

Jiya simply gave her a stare that spoke volumes about Lucy's statement.

Lucy hugged her friend tight. "Hug Rufus for me, will you? And you both have a safe trip."

Jiya smirked knowingly at her. "I'm not the one on a road trip with Mr. Resting Murder Face."

Lucy gave Jiya a small smile. “I once told Mr. Resting Murder Face that he was the easiest person in the bunker for me to talk to. We’ll be fine.”

Jiya’s eyebrows nearly met her hair as Lucy walked her to the front door. Lucy just continued to smile, then hugged Jiya once more.

“Thanks so much for helping me pack!” Lucy said, opening the door for her friend. 

“We are going to party it up in Texas. Flynn’s gonna love you in that dress!” And before Lucy could respond, Jiya slipped out the door with a laugh. 

Lucy stared at the door for a beat before heading back upstairs to finish packing. She’d deny it to anyone who asked, but if she was honest with herself, she  _ was  _ looking forward to Flynn seeing her in her new dress.  _ There’s nothing wrong with that _ , she told herself. 

The night passed quickly as she finished packing and set her alarm for 5 AM. She and Flynn had planned a 6 AM departure from her place; he told her he’d bring coffee.

Hopping in bed, she quickly passed out, eager for the morning to arrive.

At 5:45 am, there was a knock on the door. Lucy opened it to find Flynn standing in the early morning darkness with two coffee cups in hand.

"Morning," he said as he handed her one.

She greedily took the drink and was very pleased that it's exactly the way she likes it.

"It's 13 hours to Tuscon if we trade off and don't stop for tourist spots," he commented after she gestured him in. "That still the plan?"

"Yes," she said after a moment of consideration. "We'll stop somewhere around LA for lunch."

Nearly thirteen hours straight in a vehicle with Garcia Flynn. Shouldn't be all that bad. He was pretty easy to talk to.

"Let me get that," Flynn said and grabbed her bag in one hand. "Ready?" 

Lucy grabbed her dress which was in a black garment bag. "No time like the present."

It’s not ten minutes into their drive when Jiya Facetimes her. Lucy answered and saw Jiya wide awake in bed. "Hey, what's up?"

Jiya's eyes were darting all around, "Where's Flynn? Is he putting the bags in the trunk? Does he look hot for five in the morning?"

Lucy turned the phone so both she and Flynn were in view. Flynn smiled at Jiya in her unicorn pajamas. "Hey, brat. Nice sleepwear." Jiya's eyes went wide, "Lucy, do you think I look hot for five in the morning?"

Lucy blushed while Jiya yelled at her to answer. "You look… good."

Flynn laughed at the joke.

Jiya snickered loudly, then Flynn and Lucy heard the sound of a camera shutter. 

“Um, Jiya?”

“Yes, Flynn?” she asked innocently. 

“Did you just take a screenshot of Lucy and me?” 

“Maybe. Oop! Gotta go, guys! Safe travels!”

Lucy chuckled as Jiya clicked off. “Troublemaker.”

Flynn was shaking his head, but the small smile on his face gave away how he really feels about it. Lucy admired his chiseled jawline.

She must have stared at him for longer than she thought, because next thing she knew, he was turning to her and asking, “Everything okay?”

Lucy blinked. "Oh! Everything's fine! Just... the caffeine hasn't kicked in yet," she explained away with a smile.

He flashed her a smile more dazzling than the sunrise breaking out the distant horizon.

She started to question her earlier words to Jiya. Could she really last in this road trip, alone with Flynn and her raging hormones?

They got onto the highway and started to chat, Lucy couldn't even remember what about, it was easy chatter to kill the time.

Two hours in, they stopped, stretched, and switched.

By the time they stopped for lunch, Lucy was beginning to think she really had nothing to worry about.

"Are you upset?" Flynn asked once they were on the road for some time.

She was a little distracted, checking the GPS. "Upset?"

"About seeing Wyatt renew his vows to Jessica."

Lucy's eyes cut to his, surprised by the question. "Why would that upset me?"

"Because you're still in love with Wyatt." Flynn's voice was firm and matter of fact.

The car started to drift into the other lane, because Lucy had her gaze frozen on Flynn.

"Lucy the car...LUCY!"

Lucy snapped back in time to straighten the car before she caused an accident.

"I didn't mean to upset you."

Lucy stared stonily at the road, ground her teeth at the frustration and utter disbelief she was feeling right now. 

“I just...” she began. She was having a hard time speaking. “Thinking I’m upset about Wyatt, that I  _ love  _ him, is wrong, and, and,  _ offensive _ ! In so many ways!”

She shook her head and looked at Flynn again, until his alarmed facial expression and the car shaking told her she'd run off the road again. 

“How pathetic would I have to be to love that man? He’s chosen Jessica! He chose her long ago! He and I had a thing for ONE night!”

Flynn gulped. Clearly he’d fucked up. He opened his mouth to respond, but Lucy continued her rant. 

“I just... FLYNN! It’s been almost TWO YEARS since Wyatt and I had our ONE NIGHT! You must think SO LITTLE OF ME!!”

Oh. Flynn’s face burned. He gets it. Hoping to make things right, he began, “Lucy, in your journal...”

He was stunned when Lucy veered the car off the road, nearly missing the exit to a rest stop. She parked diagonally across two parking spots, and once the car was in park, turned to him angrily.

Her eyes flashed in fury he'd never seen in her before, and it was unnerving now that it was directed at him.

"SCREW that journal!" she half-screamed. "Are you going to believe in the woman who might have lived a different life than mine, or the woman who's right in front of you? Good god, Flynn!" Her eyes glistened with tears. "Here I was thinking you-you'd be..."

Her words were cut off into a sob that she clapped a hand to her mouth, turning away from Flynn.

"Damn you for making me believe," she choked out in a broken whisper. "Damn you, Garcia Flynn."

Flynn knew he had to make this right and he was mentally kicking himself for voicing his thoughts. He didn't mean to make her cry. "I-I I'm sorry. I wasn't… I didn't think. It's just that you haven't been on a date since we've taken down Rittenhouse. And I  _ know  _ Jiya and Jessica have tried to set you up a few times. You never seem to be able to stay in the same room as Wyatt when Jessica is there. You-"

Lucy turned to glare at him, "Why? You're so observant and yet  _ that’s  _ what you notice? Nothing else, just that?"

Flynn struggled for words a little. "Of course I notice that Lucy. When  _ don’t  _ I notice you?" His voice started to rise a bit in volume to match her tone.

"Why notice me at all if you're just going to see something that's clearly not there?"

"I can't  _ not  _ notice you, Lucy. Any time you walk into a room, my eyes are drawn to you. And I haven't seen you happy, truly happy, since we defeated Rittenhouse. I want nothing more than for you to be happy because I love you and I want what's best for you. And if that's Wyatt or Noah or anyone else then I'd support you no matter what, and I know,  _ now  _ that that's probably not Wyatt, but you can't blame me for questioning it, when you haven't shown the slightest bit of interest in anyone since we've gotten back to our lives."

He took a breath at her stunned silence. "I notice you, Lucy Preston. Forgive me if I only seem to notice the negative things. But it's hard not to when you're clearly not happy."

Lucy just stared back. Her brain had stopped work at the phrase, 'I love you'. He's never said that to her before. Not even in a friendly way. "You...love...me?"

Flynn's eyes went wide.  _ Shit _ .

Flynn realized what he did, and knew they still haven't gotten to Tucson, and they still have a whole other day of driving.

"You're my friend," he tried to cover. "Of course I love you, but I apologise if framing that way makes you uncomfortable."

"Your friend," she repeated oddly.

"Yes," he answers, because she is indeed his friend, and he loves her, but he also happens to be in love with her, and he doesn't want her to walk out of his life because of the awkwardness of unrequited feelings.

Lucy shook her head like she's given up on something. "I am going to this wedding, I made that choice."

"I understand," he said quietly.

Lucy turned the car back on and got back onto the road. What was once easy conversation has turned into heavy silence.

And the first day wasn't even over yet.

They drove like that for three hours. Flynn kept trying to think of ways to break the tension between them, but nothing tangible came to mind. Looking at her, he saw that her soft features had turned hard in her anger.

Lucy kept her eyes on the road. She knew that if she looked over at Flynn, she would break. He didn't love her. Not in the way that she wanted. She wanted to cry, but held onto her anger to keep the tears in check. She could cry at the hotel.

She suddenly remembered that they had booked one room with two beds. She'd have to change that.

It was nearing dinner time, and they had just crossed into Arizona. In as few words as possible, Flynn and Lucy agreed to stop at a Subway in a gas station, since their only other option in this remote area seemed to be truck stops. Lucy figured she’ll call the hotel when she goes to the restroom to freshen up. 

They headed inside in silence and placed their orders, a veggie sub for Lucy and a wrap for Flynn. They selected a table without speaking. With a sigh, Lucy headed off to the restroom and was able to change the reservation from one room two beds to two rooms, one bed. Now, with a sigh of relief, she headed back out to join her friend. Her friend. Just friends. 

She made an effort to make small talk with Flynn. “Easiest to talk to” does make small talk easier, so there’s that. 

Dinner over, they hop back in the car, Flynn behind the wheel, for the last 3 hours to Tucson. 

They had agreed to save money by sharing a room, but Lucy figured she’ll just let him find out about their new sleeping arrangements when they get to the hotel. No need to make things even more awkward.

Flynn pulled up in front of the hotel and told Lucy to stay in the car. He went in and was gone for a while. But when he finally returned, he looked both upset and hurt.

"You, ah...changed the booking."

It wasn't a question. "At the rest stop."

He nodded. He just spent the majority of his time inside arguing that he had booked  _ one  _ room and not two. The man at the counter had insisted that he was the one that answered the call and had gotten the proper information to change it to  _ two  _ rooms. Lucy was the only one that knew all of his information.

"They gave us rooms that share a wall. There's a door that connects the two." He wanted to break something. He had upset her so much that she didn't even want to share the same space as him.

He hands Lucy her key card once he's parked in front of the rooms and she was out of the car before he had a chance to ask why she didn't inform him of the change. He grabbed their overnight bags from the backseat and handed her hers once she got her door open. She didn't even flash him a smile before the door closed on his face.

He entered his room. It's nice. Clean. He looked at the door that led to Lucy's room and took a chance. He opened it, but her door was closed. He waited a minute. Five minutes. Ten. He sighed and walked away, but left it open. Just in case.

Lucy, on the other hand, had been debating on opening the door, but eventually decided crying in the shower was the better option. She wondered for a brief moment if Flynn was standing on the other side with his door open, but dismissed the thought entirely.  _ 'Why would he?' _

She took one look at herself in the giant mirror. Flynn didn't love her. Only as a friend. She cried.

She allowed herself some time to mourn the loss of something she never had with him. It would be a process, she knew that. After all, if she was totally honest with herself, she has probably been in love with him since the first night she slept in his room in the bunker.

But she hadn’t lost everything. Him loving her as a friend truly was meaningful. She could work with that. They could be best friends.

But then she recalled something else Flynn had said. “Any time you walk into a room, my eyes are drawn to you.” What the hell did he mean by that?

She pondered on that exact line all night. She couldn't think of a way in which he meant that as a friend… but the rest of his words could be taken that way. Maybe his eyes were drawn to her because she was his first friend. She knew that anytime she was in a room she looked for him. But that was because his mere presence drew attention.

A soft knock sounded on the door connecting their rooms. "Lucy?" His voice was soft but it carried in the quiet room.

She got out of bed and opened it, he blushed when he realized she was still in her sleepwear. "Hey."

"Morning. Um..." He shuffles his feet. "There's a small diner up the street. If you're hungry."

She thought about it for a moment and decided that maybe she should just accept that she'll never be more than friends with him.

Resolving herself to this new mindset, Lucy took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and gave him a friendly smile. "That sounds great, actually," she said in a friendly tone. "Give me 15 minutes to get ready?"

"Sure, no problem," he said, retiring to his room.

Twenty minutes later, he knocked on her door again. She was ready to go, wearing a flowery sundress and boots, with a light sweater over her arm. 

Flynn smiled at her. "You look... good," he said in a teasing tone.

She bumped into his arm. "You don't look so bad yourself," she teased back. 

He took her bag from her, and the two walked to their car to toss their bags in before walking the hundred or so feet to the diner. Lucy took his arm as they're walking, talking herself into a 'just friends' mindset with each step she took. She could do this.

Flynn was happy that Lucy no longer seemed mad at him. Hopefully his gaffe the day before won't ruin the rest of the trip. Not only did they have a fourteen-plus hour drive to West, Texas, but the wedding and then the trip back to make.

They ordered breakfast, and Jiya called just as the waitress walked away. 

Lucy answered. "No, I will not FaceTime you, we're in a public place and that's rude. ... Of course you're not on speaker either. ... Jiya!" Lucy went red.

He was tempted to ask what the woman said, but the waitress returned with their drinks.

He tuned out of the one-sided conversion, but he couldn't help feel that something broke yesterday evening. And now, he felt out of sync with Lucy, unsure if he could ever be candid with her without upsetting her or being misunderstood.

He was a fool. He had to let slip his true feelings, only to back pedal and cover up his slip. And now, Flynn felt like he ended something between them.

But he loves her too much to not be there when she needs a friend. Even if it kills him inside.

He stared listlessly at his unfinished breakfast as the happy chatter on the other side of the table continued.

Lucy seemed to be finishing up the call, and ended it with a string of, “I will. I will. I will!! ... JIYA!!” She hung up. 

Flynn looked at Lucy questioningly. Was she blushing?

She ddin’t volunteer what had her all riled up with Jiya, but she does say, “Oh you know how Jiya is.”

“I do,” he said, “and it sounds like she’s up to no good.”

“You’re accurate,” Lucy said. She looked uncomfortable. “She, uh, asked about our sleeping arrangements last night.” She cleared her throat and stared down at her hands. “You know. Jiya.” 

“Ah, I see.” Flynn was curious.

“I was here the whole time. I wasn’t eavesdropping, but I don’t think you said anything about our two rooms.”

He paused and watched as the blush rose higher in Lucy’s cheeks. 

“You still managed to convey that to her, didn’t you?” He laughed.

Lucy just nods. She can’t keep  _ any _ thing from him. She sighed.

“Flynn, about the rooms...” She looked worried. “You seemed upset about me changing the reservation.”

“I was.” It made no sense to keep that from her. “I thought we were close enough to share a room. We shared a  _ bed  _ several times, for G-d’s sake.”

“I know.” Her voice didn’t rise above a whisper. 

“So what is it, Lucy? It was my thinking you were upset about Wyatt, wasn’t it?” He was devastated that he hurt her. 

“Flynn, you weren’t completely wrong,” she says slowly. “I  _ was  _ upset, but about something else.”

"Clearly, it was something I said," he said bitterly. "It was wrong of me to assume your feelings about Wyatt. You've made your point  _ perfectly  _ clear. I was wrong. And yet, I feel like I still screwed up... and I don't know how to fix this," he concluded helplessly.

Lucy doesn't want to explain why exactly she was upset. But she knew she had to do  _ something _ . "You haven't screwed anything up, Flynn. We're still friends. I promise."

Flynn looked at her a little confused at the way she said that, but took it nonetheless. "Ok. Good. I thought I broke us."

She forced a smile, but he was looking down at his food and didn't notice. They finished their food in somewhat comfortable silence. Flynn kept eyeing her, knowing something is different, but not able to guess what.

It was on their way back to the hotel when Lucy decided to throw out a question that she'd been wanting to ask since yesterday.

"You haven't been on any dates either." He looked over at her, brow raised. "How come?"

"I'm not interested in anyone, Lucy." He stopped walking so he could look her in the eyes. "Okay, that's a lie. I'm interested in one person, but I dont think it's meant to be." He hoped his eyes convey his meaning. He mentally adds an  _ 'It's you'  _ at the end.

Realization showed on her face and she smiled up at him.  _ 'It's Lorena' _ she thought.  _ ‘That's why he wants to just be friends. He can't let go of his first love.’ _ She almost hated herself for being upset with him. She never even had a chance. She took his arm and forced him to keep walking. "I'm sorry." She said, eyes on the ground.

He watched their feet.  _ 'She knows now'  _ He thought, believing the apology to be a rejection. "It's okay."

Flynn was silent for the first hour of the drive. At first, Lucy provided chatter as they passed locations with historical significance. But his heart was too weighed down to appreciate Lucy's enthusiastic monologues. He could only manage monosyllabic responses.

_ 'Well, Garcia, you fool. What do you expect? One man with a previously dead wife has broken her heart, why do you think she'd want to take a chance on you?' _

He decided he'll lament for a love that could have been for maybe a few minutes, and then he'll be the friend Lucy deserves.

As the road opened to an endless expanse of road and empty landscape, and with Flynn still pensive, Lucy tried to search for a radio station. She stopped at the first station she finds, and piano music and vocals filter through the speakers.

_ /I go to bed, turn out the light, but your face I see/ _

_ /It only hurts the more I pretend _

_ that we could ever be more than friends/ _

_ /Please don't ask me, why I'm so in love with you/ _

The steering wheel creaked under Flynn's hand.

_ /You could easily make me happy, that I know/ _

_ /But I try my best to never tell you so/ _

_ /I will sing to you my love songs/ _

_ /And pretend  _

_ but I'll keep my secret right down to the end/ _

He took a long breath through his nose. This trip couldn't be over soon enough.

Another three hours went by and Flynn was leaning against the car waiting for Lucy to return with coffee. The conversation had come easily enough, but Flynn could tell that something was off. He and Lucy weren't meshing like before he had confessed his feelings. But he was glad he had gotten it off of his chest. Glad that he now knew for certain her feelings regarding him. Just friends. He could do that. And he'd paint a smile on until he felt ok again. He could do this… right?

Lucy walked up to him and smiled as she passed him his coffee. "Alright?"

“Alright.” He smiled and squeezed her hand, thankful to be here with a beautiful woman, a beautiful soul, happy just to have her in his life. His heart ached as they get back in the car, but he knew one day, hopefully soon, he’d be grateful for what they have. 

Now with Lucy behind the wheel, they start to pass signs for El Paso.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Lucy is stunned to hear in a deep baritone:

_ /Out in the West Texas town of El Paso/ _

_ /I fell in love with a Mexican girl./ _

She turned to watch him sing as much as she safely can, mesmerized by this lighter side of him. 

He watched her watching him, raising one eyebrow as he sang: 

_ /Just for a moment I stood there in silence/ _

_ /shocked by the foul evil deed I had done/ _

Lucy huffed a laugh, thinking back to the months she spent chasing him through time: a time they thought he was the bad guy. She smiled at him. “How far we’ve come, huh?”

She listened, entranced, as he finished the song, and then took her hands off the wheel for a few seconds to give him a well-deserved round of applause.

He bowed his head with a smile, a mischievous glint in his eye. "It's your turn, Professor."

Lucy laughed. "No. I'm not singing."

"You can't let me out stage you. You're the singer."

Lucy just rolled her eyes. She could only think of love songs. And she didn't want to cry or make it more awkward. She felt the tension between them, but she knew they were trying to push past it, if him singing was any indication. God, she loved him.

"I'll take the loss, Garcia."

He nodded, not wanting to pressure her, or make her uncomfortable, just happy to have made her smile. 

They ride in comfortable silence for twenty minutes or so. Then Lucy broke it: 

_ /I like the way your sparkling earrings lay, against your skin so brown./ _

Flynn’s eyebrow was getting a workout today. 

_ /And I wanna sleep with you in the desert tonight/ _

He glanced at her. The tiniest of smiles skirted her lips.

_ /With a billion stars all around./ _

He was melting. Her voice is liquid gold. 

He joined her for the chorus.

_ /Cause I got a peaceful easy feeling.  _

_ And I know you won’t let me down./ _

They were both laughing. This was like their first innocent nights together in the bunker. 

Flynn took the second verse, then they shared the third. 

_ /I get this feeling I may know you _

_ As a lover and a friend./ _

They realized simultaneously what they’re singing, and their voices trail off. They sat in silence for just a second before laughing together, enjoying this first pure moment of the day.

Lucy took a hand off the wheel to grab his and gave it a squeeze, smiling at him.  _ 'God, I love him.' _

He took it and lifted it to his lips, placing a kiss on her fingers. He smiled into the light kiss. _ 'I'm so in love with her' _

"I'm glad we decided to drive." He said.

"Me, too."

Another hour went by with Flynn napping on and off, checking to make sure Lucy was still good to drive. He woke up at one point and they were parked at a rest stop. Lucy was gone. But her phone was in the car and it was going off.

Wyatt was trying to facetime.

He answered, Wyatt's beaming face filled the screen. It dipped a little at just seeing Flynn. "Where's your better half?" Wyatt joked.

Flynn's heart hurt at that. "Bathroom, I think. I woke up and she was gone."

"Jessica likes to do that. It's spooky."

"How is the bride-to-be?"

Wyatt blushed a little, but his smile grows. He turned the phone and shifted to reveal Jessica sitting up in bed holding their baby. "Hey, Flynn. I told him not to call, in case you two were busy." Her eyebrows wiggled and Flynn blushed.

"Lucy and I are just friends, Jess. We'll never be more than that."

The phone was suddenly pressed against Jessica's face with her glaring at him. "What the hell does that supposed to mean?"

"I told Lucy I loved her."

"YOU WHAT?!" Wyatt's face squeezed into frame, surprise on both their faces.

"She rejected me."

"SHE WHAT?!"

Flynn was taken aback by the Logans’ upset faces. "What happened?"

Flynn sighed, not wanting to talk about it, but they would just annoy him until he answered. "We were arguing. I accidentally told her I loved her. She only wants to be friends."

"Wyatt, put the baby to sleep. I need to yell at Flynn."

"I want to hear!" Wyatt pouted, but he took the baby and Flynn could hear him quickly leave the room.

"Jessica, Lucy will be back any moment. I don't want to do this. I'm fine with being her friend," Flynn said, looking for Lucy. He didn't see her.

Jessica sighed. “Is she fine being just friends? Seriously? I’m having a  _ really  _ hard time believing that. WHAT DID SHE SAY?!”

Flynn was surprised at Jessica’s reaction, not realizing she cared so much about his love life.

“I... don’t know! I think something like, ‘You love me?’”

“And then?! WHAT DID YOU SAY?”

“Jess, I don’t know. Something about how she’s my friend and I love her. She kind of repeated the friend part. I was trying to walk things back. We have a  _ lot  _ of time to spend together in the car over the next 6 days.”

Jessica just rolled her eyes.

“Flynn, she was  _ upset _ . I don’t understand how men can be so  _ dense  _ sometimes!”

“Yeah, she was upset, upset I told her I love her!” Flynn was pretty certain about this.

Wyatt came back into the picture. “Flynn, man, I agree with my wife here. Lucy thinks you rejected her.”

All of a sudden, he heard footsteps approaching and shushed the Logans with his hands. Lucy walked up to the car, and seeing them on her phone exclaims, “Hey, guys! What’s up? You getting excited?!”

Flynn shot them a look and they took the hint. "Hey, Lucy! We can't wait for you guys to get here. We have  _ so much  _ to talk about." 

Jessica smiled a little too sweetly at her and Lucy raised a brow at her. "Okay? How's my godchild?"

Wyatt beamed at his friend, "Just put the little monster down. How's my favorite couple?"

Lucy looked over at Flynn, whose gaze is fixed on her phone. "Flynn and I aren't a couple, Wyatt. We're  _ just  _ friends." Her voice is a little hard, surprising the Logans.

"... Sorry, it was just a joke." He apologized.  _ 'Shit. Flynn wasn't joking,'  _ he thought as he looked at his wife.

Jessica suddenly dipped out of view and they could hear a muffled scream. "Is she screaming into a pillow?"

"She just received some distressing news… the florist ordered the wrong flowers, but they're working on it.”

Lucy and Flynn said their goodbyes, allowing the couple to figure out their floral dilemma and needing to get back on the road so they can get to West, Texas tonight. 

"Everything okay?" Flynn asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lucy replied, fastening the seat belt of the passenger seat.

"It seemed important to you to make sure they knew we weren't a couple." Flynn fastened his own belt and they got back on the highway. 

"Well, I think since  _ we  _ stated the status of our relationship very clearly, it's important our friends know as well." Lucy smiled over at him.

Flynn's heart hurt. "I think that makes perfect sense," he told her.

They finished the drive in friendly fashion, talking about Jiya and Rufus, and Denise, and what the wedding might be like, but they avoided talking about themselves for the rest of the night. They checked into their hotel at 9 pm, exhausted from the long drive, but more from their heavy hearts and having to pretend for one another that they were okay.

They had no choice but to share the room, but they had two beds, and quickly changed into pajamas and dropped into bed, not sure what the wedding would be like when they had to try so hard right now to make things normal between them.

Flynn was lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling when Lucy walked out of the bathroom. She looked beautiful.  _ 'I'll never forgive Wyatt for breaking her heart… I would have spent the rest of my life trying to make her happy.'  _ He thought sadly.

She caught his eye in the mirror, a concerned look on her face. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." Flynn tried to smile, but it fell flat.

"Garcia."

He didn’t realize that tears had gathered in his eyes until he felt it fall. He sat up and wiped the tears away. "I'm just thinking about what could have been. I'm sorry. You don't need this."

Lucy went to sit beside him.  _ 'His girls,'  _ she thought as an arm went around him. "I'm so sorry, Garcia. I'd change things if I could. You deserve to be happy."

He took a breath, "Don't say that. This is… not what I wanted, but it's something I have to deal with on my own. I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing. It's not your fault. You don't have to go through this alone. I can help. I'm not sure how, but I can try."

Flynn huffed out a laugh. "You helping is the opposite of what I'd need, Lucy."

She recoiled a little and he grimaced at his words. "Oh."

"That didn't come out right."

"I understood what you meant. It's fine." She stands, but leaned back down to drop a kiss on his head, leading to a few more tears falling. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's not your fault. It just wasn't meant to be. Fate is cruel."

Lucy climbed into her bed and tried to get comfortable. The sheets were cold, and she was regretting how this road trip with Flynn had gone, because she could really use some of his considerable body heat right about now. 

She sighed loudly. “‘Night, Flynn.”

They could’ve had something wonderful.

They both lay awake for close to an hour, not sure if the other was awake, not sure that the other could find any comfort in anything they had to say.

The sound of an alarm going off woke Lucy the next morning. She didn't remember falling asleep, but she didn't feel exhausted either. She looked over at Flynn's bed and found him sitting cross legged with coffee cups in each hand.

"Is one of those for me?"

He smiled at her. "I was going to wake you up, but the alarm beat me to it."

She smiled back, reaching over the space between their beds to grab a cup. The tension and awkwardness disappeared for a brief moment. Lucy remembered the first time she woke up with Flynn and he offered her coffee.

She desperately wanted to joke about him being a gentle and responsive lover, but it just wouldn’t be right. With Flynn only interested in the love he lost when Rittenhouse took away his family, the joke would be like a slap in the face. 

And yet...

He had made the joke to her. All those months ago when his small room in the bunker had been her only safe space, he had joked about her as a lover. 

Could he have meant...?

Lucy had to shove that thought aside as Flynn removed his sleep shirt and crossed the room in three large steps to grab his clothes to take into the bathroom with him when he showers. She was mesmerized by his lean muscular physique, and realized she’d actually started drooling. 

She snapped out of it when the man actually  _ smirked  _ at her and said crisply, “We should leave around 11 to pick up Jiya and Rufus from the airport. So, when you’re done parading around the room half naked, perhaps you can shower so we can grab breakfast before we go.”

His smirk only intensified as he walked into the bathroom. Then a pair of pajama pants hit her in the chest as the bathroom door slammed shut.

He can hear her laughing on the other side of the door and he smiled to himself. They'll be ok. As long as the awkwardness doesn't come back. Just friends. She knows he's struggling with that and she's trying her best to stay friendly with him. He falls for her all over again, but it’s not what she wanted. And he could learn to be okay with that. He jumped in the shower.

Lucy, on the other hand, was out of bed, pacing slowly. She could do this. He was still struggling with the loss of his family and she can push her feelings aside to help him through it. She could do that.

And for the rest of the morning, they both did splendidly. They chatted innocently as friends during breakfast, and while driving to the airport to pick up their friends. And then, all of a sudden, they’re not alone anymore. And although Lucy is happy to see Jiya and looks forward to their salon appointment in the early afternoon to get their hair and makeup done, she felt a sense of loss as well. She realized that she really missed all the one-on-one time she had with Flynn in the bunker, and it hit her in the face that Jiya had known this all along. It was why she asked Lucy if she missed Flynn when the two were packing at Lucy’s house.

And now she was wondering how she would survive all this time alone with Jiya this afternoon before they go back to the hotel to get dressed for the 4:00 ceremony.

As soon as Flynn and Rufus were out of sight, Jiya immediately rounded on Lucy. "What the hell was that?"

Lucy watoo surprised by this. "Jiya I just want to get pampered."

Jiya could see the tension in Lucy's shoulders and she looked stressed. "I knew you were forcing smiles. Did something happen?"

"Flynn said he loved me."

Jiya bounced up and down, squealing. "YES! FINALLY! WHY AREN'T YOU JUMPING WITH ME?" Jiya stilled at the heartbroken look on her friend's face. "Lucy?"

"He isn't IN love with me, Jiya. He only loves me as a friend. He said so himself."

Jiya pulled her into a hug and Lucy's grip was tight around her. "Why would he say that?"

"He's still struggling with the death of his family. Of losing Lorena. He was in tears thinking about 'what could have been' last night. Said he didn't need me."

"I'll kill him."

“Jiya, we can’t be upset if he’s having a hard time moving on from his family. You know that.” Lucy knew her friend would never hold that against him.

“Obviously, but it makes no sense he would’ve said that based on how I’ve seen him act around you,“ Jiya said, frustration all over her face. “Man thinks you hung the moon.” 

Lucy blushed. “He did tell me I’m the first thing he notices when he walks into a room.”

Jiya just stared at her. “Ok, I need details. Did he actually specifically say ‘Lorena’ or ‘my wife’?” 

“Well, no,” Lucy admits.

“Then why the hell do you think he’s not over Lorena?!” Jiya was getting exasperated. 

“He mentioned to me he’d noticed I hadn’t been on any dates since we beat Rittenhouse. I said the same to him, and he told me it’s because he’s interested in someone, but it wasn’t meant to be. I knew what he meant,” Lucy said.

Jiya’s face was red and she looked as if she’d eaten a bad grape. “Ok, Lucy.” For some reason, she looked happy. Maybe it was because they were walking into the spa and she was looking forward to some primping.

Rufus and Flynn had gone to the Logans’ house to retrieve Wyatt and the baby for haircuts. Wyatt wanted to be fully pampered and handed his son off to Flynn and Rufus while he got his hair done.

"So… you and Lucy okay, man?" Rufus asked as he shifted his godson in his arms. Flynn fussed with his newly cut hair.

"We're fine." He gives his friend a look, indicating he wasn't in the mood to discuss this.

But Rufus just tilted his head at him, the one-year-old copying his godfather and tilting his head with a smile at Flynn.

"The both of you are annoying." Flynn stated as he stared at the smiling baby.

"Milo wants to know why you and Aunt Lucy are fighting. He wants to be the ring bearer at your wedding, but that can't happen if you two are fighting." Rufus said, holding the baby in Flynn's face.

"Well, Milo is going to be disappointed. Lucy won't be marrying me. Ever." He took Milo from Rufus and tickled him. "She doesn't love me. And that's fine. Your Aunt Lucy is my best friend. That's enough."

Milo seemed to be glaring at him. "Don't judge me. You're a baby."

Wyatt yelled over from his chair, “Y’all are crazy! There’s no way Lucy doesn’t love you. And there’s no way you’re okay just being friends with her.” His hair stylist shushed him and threatened to cut his hair unevenly if he didn't hold still.

Meanwhile, Lucy, Jiya, and Jessica were sitting in a row getting their hair done at a salon across town. Jiya was for once keeping her mouth shut about Flynn, for which Lucy was grateful, but then Lucy opened the can of worms all over again when she asked Jessica, “So did you figure out your issue with the flowers?”

Jessica looked at her reflection in the mirror in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“When we FaceTimed yesterday, Flynn and I heard you scream into a pillow and Wyatt said the florist had ordered the wrong flowers,” Lucy explained.

"No...OH! That." Jessica makes a face and sighed. "Wyatt was just trying to cover."

Now it was Lucy's turn to be confused, "Cover for what?"

"Well I was upset that you and Flynn aren't getting together. Still am. I didn't believe Flynn when he told us. But then you said the same thing, but harsher. I guess, I just wasn't ready to give up on you two."

Jiya looked over at Lucy's forlorn expression. "Lucy, we all wanted you guys to get together. It sucks that it's not happening."

Lucy nodded. "Yeah… I'm sorry we've disappointed you all. But I guess...it just wasn't meant to be." Lucy chuckled to herself and shook her head. Flynn had said the same thing just the day before. But he was talking about his wife.

"It's a shame. You two fit so well together."

"We're still friends. I know it'll be hard, but I'm positive that Flynn will move on eventually. I just hope his heart recovers enough to find love again."

Jessica could see the heartbreak on Lucy's face and felt bad for wanting to yell at her for breaking Flynn's heart. She had grown accustomed to seeing Lucy make the abnormally tall man happy. "I don't want to take sides… BUT he's not going to move on, Lucy. That man's love runs deep, I thought you knew that."

"Of course I know that. It's why I love him, but it's not what he wants."

Jessica's next retort was cut short by that, but Lucy's phone going off halts the conversation entirely. "Lucy-"

"I have to answer this. It's the college. But when I return we will NOT be picking up this conversation. It was hard enough discussing this with Flynn. I don't need you two judging me or him or our relationship. Being his friend is enough." She walked out.

Lucy moved off to the check in area to get away from the loud blow dryers and her nosy friends. She glanced over at Jiya and Jessica and was surprised to see them engaged in a very enthusiastic discussion. Hands were gesturing, heads shaking, and their hair stylists were trying to calm them down. She could barely pay attention to her phone call, which was some non-emergency work-related issue that someone at work just didn’t want to manage on their own. When she finally returned to her friends, she saw they were laughing and giving one another sly looks, but they didn’t say one more word to her about Flynn. They all left the hairstyling area to get their makeup done, and the conversation still excluded him. Lucy was beginning to get nervous. This wasn’t typical for either of her friends. 

She knew she couldn’t bring it up again, so she just stayed silent as they left the salon to go back to the hotel. From time to time, Jess and Jiya elbowed one another and seemed to converse with their eyebrows. But the closer they got to the hotel, Lucy worried about them less and got more and more nervous to see Flynn again.

"You!" Jiya shouted so loudly that Wyatt nearly jumped out of his skin.

"What?" He instantly started to look around for trouble, fearing the worst.

"You can't see the bride before the wedding," she told him as she walked up, making sure that Flynn was indeed far from earshot.

"Um, yes, that's the tradition, are you okay?" Wyatt thought the woman looked a bit too pleased and devious.

"Since Jess can't be here," Jiya said, "you're going to listen to what I say and do exactly as I say, as if she was here."

"What is going on?" He started to get frustrated.

As Jiya filled Wyatt in, Rufus was getting a similar treatment from Jess.

"You girls are insane," Rufus said. "This will end in tears, cursing, and possible bloodshed."

"You don't want in?" Jess asked.

"Oh, of course I do, I thought that was obvious."

Lucy went back to her shared room with Flynn and remained clueless. Of course, when she walks into the room with her hair and make up done, he momentarily stopped breathing and started choking on air, suffering a coughing fit which has her desperately looking for a bottle of water.

When he finally stopped coughing, Lucy realized he was only partially dressed, wearing black pants and an unbuttoned white shirt, and she tripped over her purse, which she had tossed on the ground in an effort to quickly locate water for him.

Truly, they are a spectacle their friends would love to see. 

Somehow, they both managed to get dressed, although the dropped jaws and wide eyes and gulping would make it clear to any casual observer how challenging it is for them to be pretending to be ‘just friends.’

“Shall we?” Flynn offered his arm to Lucy and she tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow. They walked downstairs to the second floor of the hotel, where a corner conference room has been covered with flowers and was awaiting the vow renewals of Mr. and Mrs. Logan. 

Lucy and Flynn both appreciated the convenience of having both the renewals and the reception held in the hotel. It was easily 100 degrees in West, Texas, today, and with the humidity, guests would have started wilting five minutes into the ceremony if it had been held outside as originally planned.

The ceremony was lovely. Not a dry eye in sight. Flynn even got a little teary-eyed during Wyatt's vows. Jiya stood with Jessica while Rufus stood with Wyatt. Milo was the ring bearer.

Flynn and Lucy were in charge of keeping Milo quiet during the ceremony. The boy was only quiet when he was sandwiched between the two, forcing Flynn and Lucy to be pressed against each other, with Flynn's arm behind Lucy on the bench. Both of them tried hard to pretend the other wasn't as close as they were. They failed.

As soon as it was appropriate to do so, Lucy was out of her seat like a shot, leaving Milo and Flynn behind on the bench.

Milo and Flynn looked at each other with the baby raising his brows. His arm stretched out in Lucy's direction. "Don't look at me. She definitely ran away from you."

He lifted the baby and followed behind slowly.

The reception was full of Jessica's family and friends. Wyatt had only invited the team, Denise and Connor included, and a couple of his army buddies.

Lucy had switched seats with Connor so that she wasn't seated next to Flynn. It was bad enough that she had wanted to jump him during the ceremony. Her only saving grace had been Milo. She had taken him off of Flynn as soon as he approached the table.

Flynn immediately went to the bar after the happy couple took their seats and stayed there. If it wasn't for Milo, he would have kissed Lucy.

He sat there, drowning his sorrows in shot after shot of whiskey, hoping the sting as it slides down his throat will numb his pain. It most decidedly did not. But the shots he was taking solo attracted the attention of Jiya and Jessica, and he sighed as they converged upon him.

“May we join you?” Jessica flashed him a grin that made it clear she and Jiya were up to something.

Still, he couldn’t say no to the bride, and he gestured to a free stool next to him while giving up his to Jiya. The two women each ordered two shots of their own and a glass of water for him.

“I’m not that drunk,” he growled, then blanched as he remembered Lucy saying the same thing to him after he made that sex joke to her after the first night she slept in his room

“How you holding up?” Jessica asked, and he was afraid to answer, certain they were playing at something.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” he replied, sipping his water and watching them over the rim.

“Lucy told us the reason you’re not dating anyone,” Jiya replied, throwing back a shot, but her eyes never leaving his face.

“She did.” He couldn’t make it come out as a question.

He raised a finger for another shot and threw it back before returning his attention to the women sitting before him.

"Yeah. Why didn't you tell us, Flynn?" Jiya said, her eyes suddenly filled with pain.

Flynn put his shot glass down, concerned and confused. "Jiya, you know I'm in love with Lucy. Everyone knows that."

Jessica let out a chuckle. "Of course, we do. But we're not talking about Lucy. We're talking about Lorena."

Flynn's eyes darted between the two for a moment, briefly wondering if the timeline had changed… but he still remembered his family. The team definitely still does because Connor had asked about his wedding day after he switched seats with Lucy.

"My wife, Lorena?" He questioned.

Jiys and Jessica both rolled their eyes in a 'duh' type of way. "Of course, your wife. Lucy told us about why you don't want to be with her."

He scratched the back of his head, "Why don't I want to be with Lorena?"

"No, with Lucy."

"I'm confused."

"Clearly." Jiya said and turned on her stool to give him her full attention.

"What exactly did Lucy say to you girls?" He stepped closer to them.

Jessica put her hand on his shoulder, "She told us that you didn't want to be with her because you're still not over Lorena."

Flynn's eyes widened and his mouth moved, but nothing came out. His eyes became unfocused as he thought over their conversations, not understanding how Lucy could have come to that conclusion.

"Excuse me," he said before turning to look for Lucy.

He didn't see the girls high five.

Meanwhile, Wyatt and Rufus have been trying to track Lucy down, no small feat given that she’d been chasing Milo all over the reception space for the last fifteen minutes. For a one-year-old who’s not walking, the boy sure gets around. They finally caught up to Lucy when one of Jessica’s cousins took Milo to play with her kids. She was walking purposefully to the bar, abandoned just thirty seconds prior by Flynn, Jess, and Jiya. 

Lucy saw Wyatt and Rufus approaching and waved. “Can I order you anything?” she called out. 

They settled in at the end of the bar with their drinks. 

Wyatt looked over at Rufus before addressing Lucy, “Where’s Flynn?” 

“I haven’t seen him in a bit. I’m not his keeper, you know.” Lucy sipped forcefully on her gin and tonic.

Rufus raised his eyebrows at Wyatt. “We’re not saying anything like that, Lucy. It’s just...” Rufus paused for effect. 

“Yes?” Lucy drained her drink and ordered another. 

“Well, Lucy, you were so adamant about the two of you being just friends, I was hoping maybe he had told you something about his mystery woman.” Wyatt casually popped a peanut into his mouth.

Lucy looked stunned. “His WHAT?!” 

Rufus continued. “Well, Lucy, after you swore up-and-down that the two of you were just friends, we asked Flynn why he wasn’t dating anyone else if you guys were cool being just friends. He said there’s one woman he’s interested in but it wasn’t meant to be.”

Lucy sighs. “Yes, Rufus. He means Lorena.” 

Rufus and Wyatt looked at one another. “Lucy, he was speaking in the present tense. He told us this woman is so amazing, she’s the first thing he notices when he walks into a room.” Wyatt shrugged. “Maybe he’ll tell us who this amazing woman is one day.”

Lucy stared at them both, mouth open, speechless. And then she darted away.

Wyatt and Rufus fist bumped as they watched her run off. "Ten bucks says they bang in the garden."

"Twenty says they don't even make it that far."

* * *

Lucy spent a few minutes searching for Flynn when Jiya walked by. "Jiya! Where's Flynn?"

Jiya pretended to help her search, before she caught Jessica's eye. The bride pointed towards the doorway leading to the garden. "I think I just saw him go out to the garden."

Lucy flashed her friend a smile before she zipped by everyone as fast as she could. Surprising her friends, who knew her to be a klutz.

As soon as she passed through the doors, they closed behind her with a soft click.

"Garcia?"

Flynn turned around and walked back up the stairs, "Lucy! I was looking for you." He glanced around real quick, "Milo?" As much as he loved the boy, he didn't want him interrupting this.

"Inside."

They stared at one another for a few breathless moments. Now that the sun has gone down, the outdoor temperature was fairly comfortable. The garden at night was lovely. The lighting, the smell of flowers, the sound of a light breeze whispering through the trees. It was all very romantic, and this has not escaped the notice of either Flynn or Lucy.

Finally, Flynn broke the silence. 

“Lucy.” Well, it’s a start.

“Yes.”

He cleared his throat. “Do you want to...?” He gestured helplessly to the gazebo at the far end of the garden.

“Yes.”

They walked side by side in silence to the gazebo. Each gathered their thoughts and trying to think of a way to start this conversation. Once inside, Flynn leaned against the rail with his arms crossed.

"Lucy…  _ draga _ , why did you tell Jiya and Jess that I'm not dating anyone because of Lorena?" The term of endearment accidentally slipped out, but he'd called her that before, so he didn't dwell too much on it.

Lucy was a little embarrassed but, "I thought that's who you meant. When you said that it wasn't meant to be. And then you when you were crying in the room about 'what could have been'? What did you expect me to think?"

Flynn sighed, knowing now that his words could have been taken out of context. "I… guess I can see where our wires got crossed."

Lucy crossed her arms. "Why didn't you tell me you were interested in someone?"

He chuckled, surprised by the question. "I thought I had." He ran his hand through his short hair. "Time out. We need to start over."

Lucy bit her lip, thinking over the last couple of days. Trying to make sense of everything. "You first."

Flynn huffed, "I’m in love with you."

Lucy stared at him. Again. She’d been doing a lot of that lately, but there were much worse things in the world to stare at if one is being completely honest with oneself.

“But...” she was confused. “You  _ did  _ tell me you loved me the other day but immediately backtracked and said you love me as a friend.”

“Lucy, I’ve loved you for so long, but not once have I had the courage to tell you. As soon as the words left my mouth, I panicked. But I realized when Jess and Jiya told me you thought I couldn’t move on because of Lorena that I needed to be completely honest with you. It felt wrong to let you believe something that’s not true. And I thought if there was even the smallest chance that you felt the same way about me, you’d never tell me if you thought you were imposing on my former wife.”

Lucy smiled. He knew her too well.

“Garcia, there  _ is  _ someone I’m interested in.” She allowed him only half a second of confusion before she clarified, “Actually, I’m in love with him. I’m in love with a man who notices me the second he walks into a room. A man who has been my best friend for quite a long time.”

A slow smile formed on his lips and he shuffles his feet. "Really?"

"Yes. He's the easiest person to talk to out of everyone." Lucy walked closer, until she was standing within reach of him.

"Well it's a shame really," he stated. "I had no idea you felt that way about Rufus."

Her smile fell and he was suddenly doubled over in laughter. She realized that he was joking and made a face. "Not funny."

Flynn straightened up with a smile splitting his face. "You should see your face." He stepped closer. "So this mystery man. Does he love you back?"

Lucy reached up to play with the buttons on his shirt. "He does. Has for some time, apparently."

Flynn blushed, "As long as you're both on the same page about your feelings. I think you should give him a chance."

Now it was Lucy's turn to blush. "I think I just might. He's very handsome."

Flynn took hold of Lucy’s hands in his. She seemed to be hard at work trying to twist off a few of his buttons, so he distracted her by rubbing his thumbs over her knuckles. He stared at her mouth, wanting desperately to kiss her, licking his lips unconsciously. 

Lucy’s eyes were drawn to this, as they have been since she met him. It’s always driven her crazy. She pulled her lower lip between her teeth. Then she whispered to him, “Do you trust me?”

“Of course,” he replied. 

“Step away from me, then. We can’t let our insufferable meddling friends think they’ve won.”

He laughed. He loves this woman with his entire being. He also loves messing with their friends, especially Jiya. If he had to wait a little longer to kiss Lucy, he’ll do it to make her sweat.

With one last longing look at her lips, he dropped her hands and stepped away.

She smiled as he leaned against the railing again, their eyes sparkling at each other. Flynn looked around them to ensure that they were indeed alone before he stepped back into her space.

His hands reached up to cradle her face, his thumb caressing her cheek. One of her hands came up to cover his hand. He leaned down and placed a tender kiss at the corner of her lips.

He knows that if he kissed her lips, he wouldn't be able to stop. He heard Lucy gasp and broke away. His forehead rested against hers. "I couldn't help myself… I love you."

"I love you too."

Jiya and Rufus were cutting it up on the dance floor, but when they took a breather, they went to the table where Wyatt and Jess were sitting, Milo somehow had fallen asleep even with all the ruckus around him.

"You're going to regret that at three in the morning," Jiya said.

"Probably," Jess laughed, "but at least he's not pulling his own impersonation of Houdini."

"Nice guy," Rufus said, grabbing some water.

Jiya jutted her thumb at the door Lucy and Flynn disappeared behind. "Any movement?"

"Not through there anyway," Wyatt shrugged. "That's not the only exit."

"They could be back at the hotel by now," Rufus said.

"True." Jiya sat on Rufus' lap as soon as it became available. "I don't hear any screams of bloodshed, so I think we all did good."

A few minutes passed while the friends patted themselves on the back.

Wyatt's phone buzzed, he pulled it out of his pocket. "Huh, it's from Flynn."

"Saying thanks?" Jess asked.

"No," he frowned. "He's asking for other hotel recommendations."

"What?"

Wyatt starts to tap at the phone. "He says he's moving out of the hotel for the night, so not to upset Lucy."

Jiya's phone then buzzed and she immediately checked it. "Oh shit. I just got a cry-text from Lucy."

"What's a cry text?" Rufus asked, then saw the text that was eerily similar looking to a drunk-text. "That looks bad."

They looked between each other with fear.

Jess swallowed hard. "What have we done?"

"We have to fix this, now," Jiya was up and off of Rufus. "Lucy's in the bathroom."

"Which one?" Jess stood with Milo.

"I don't know. Can't be far."

Wyatt and Rufus had their own plan. "Flynn said he was packing, we'll go to their room."

Jiya and Jess (with Milo, who miraculously remained sleeping) took off to the nearest bathroom, the one guests had been using all night. All the stalls were empty. No Lucy. 

“I think there’s a smaller bathroom near check-in,” Jess whispered. “Let’s go check!” Also empty.

Jiya ran up to the front desk. “Are there any other bathrooms on this floor that wedding guests might use?” she asked the bored-looking clerk. 

“Just the one you just checked and the one near the reception room,” the clerk responded.

“Shit!” Jiya exclaimed. Where was she?!

Upstairs, Wyatt and Rufus were banging on the door of Lucy and Flynn’s room. “Flynn, we know you’re in there! Let us in!” Wyatt yelled.

When no one came to the door, Rufus tried. “Flynn, come on, buddy. Talk to us!” 

No response. But a door twenty feet down the hall opened, and a grumpy man poked his head out and yelled, “He doesn’t want to talk! Now go away and let the rest of us sleep!”

Dejected, Rufus and Wyatt head back downstairs to the reception, hoping Jiya and Jess had had better luck.

Jiya and Jessica were freaking out by the time Wyatt and Rufus made it to the reception area. "Please tell me you spoke to Flynn!"

Wyatt huffed, annoyed. "He wouldn't open the damn door."

Jessica shot him a look, nodding towards the baby in her arms.

"Sorry. Where's Lucy?"

"We couldn't find her." Jiya answers, stressed. "What the fu-freak happened between them?"

"No Idea, but I bet it was Flynn's fault."

"Wyatt, you can't just blame Flynn." Rufus rolled his eyes.

"Yes I can. She's crying, Rufus. And he's packing. He said something that hurt her.

I say we shoot him. Then ask Lucy what happened."

The other three just gave him a look. He pouted.

Connor was walking by with a glass in his hand and he smiled at them. "Well if it isn't my favorite people."

"Have you seen Lucy?" Jiya asked, beyond worried for her friend.

Connor was a little confused by everyone's worried looks. "Yes, I just finished speaking with her. Is everything alright?"

"I'll explain later, did she say where she was going?" Rufus questioned.

"I gave her the key card to my room. She said she wanted a different room."

Jessica handed Milo to Connor before grabbing Jiya's hand and running to where they knew the more expensive suits were, Wyatt and Rufus close behind. They hoped to catch Lucy before she entered the room and ignored them like Flynn did.

Connor's room was across the courtyard and the sound of laughter hit them before they turned the last corner to the open courtyard. They all stop to take in the scene before them.

Flynn was across the courtyard with Lucy in his arms. Laughing. The team just stood there and watched as Flynn carries Lucy into Connor's room.

They've been played.


	5. Wilimema

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [#FlynnFriday imagine](https://twitter.com/thalia_msr/status/1235829347405058048): Lucy and Flynn are on vacation when they come across a few wild horses. They immediately take a liking to them and Flynn can't help, but beg Lucy if he could keep one. Will she be able to resist his charms and say no?

Lucy finds it adorable as one of the horses seems to take a special liking to Flynn, following him wherever he goes, nudging him for more treats. 

And it looks like the feeling is mutual. Once it got his attention, Flynn was all over it, offering his hand to sniff, petting its snout and whispering nonsense at it. It's love at first sight.

"Should I be jealous I'm being replaced by a horse?" she asks teasingly as the horse bumps his head against Flynn's chest for more pets.

Flynn looks over at her with one of the biggest smiles she's ever seen on his face. "Well, you're never this affectionate in public."

She laughs as he leans his head against the horse and sighs happily. "Nuzzling and begging for treats is not a kink, I'm into, Garcia."

Flynn snaps his eyes to hers and blushes hard. "I-I-I wa-wasn't implying anything l-like that." He stutters out, making her laugh again.

"I'm only teasing." She walks up and tries to place a kiss on his cheek, but the horse gets between them. "Unbelievable. She's jealous.

"Don't be so hard on her, Lucy," he says, chuckling. "She's a young mare who just needs a bit of affection."

The mare's head turns to Lucy, and she could've sworn there's a mischievous glint in those dark eyes. She narrows her stare at the animal.

"We should start heading back." Lucy states, still eyeing the horse warily.

Flynn gives a pout, his arms going around the mares neck, "I don't wanna."

"Garcia..." she sighs, knowing what's coming.

"Can we keep her?" His face is full of hope and she almost caves.

"No."

"Why not?"

How can a bear of a man rain hell on Rittenhouse with just a look, be such a five-year-old?

"I don't see a good reason why," she points out.

"Look. She's docile, clearly easily trainable. And she listens to me."

"And that's it. She listens only to you."

His pout grows.

"We are miles away from civilization," Lucy points out. "How do you expect we get her back?"

"I'm sure I'll come up with a solid plan before we get to the SUV."

Lucy crosses her arms, trying to not be affected by the Flynn-pout. "And where would we keep her when we got home?"

"We would have to buy a new house. Preferably one with a barn." He states matter-of-factly.

Lucy raises a brow. It sounded like he had been thinking about this for some time. "You want to buy a farmhouse?"

"What a fantastic idea, Lucy. We should." He smirks at her. Damn him.

She slaps his arm playfully, and yelps when the mare nips at her hand and thankfully misses.

She steps back as she gapes at it. "What the hell? Did you see what she did?" She points accusingly at the mare, which is tossing her head proudly.

"No, no. Bad, little one." Flynn admonishes the mare as if speaking to a child. When he tries to steer its head to look at him, the mare nuzzles his cheek.

Lucy gasps. The gall of this animal! And the big bastard is ENJOYING it!

Lucy turns her glare onto Flynn, who is too busy petting the horse to notice. She rolls her eyes, knowing this particular trip was a bad idea.

Flynn was so distracted by the beautiful creature that he didn't even notice Lucy walk back to their car. She wants to talk to someone, but she knows Jiya, Rufus, and Connor are working. Wyatt might answer, but he'd be distracted with the baby. She sighed. Her only option was the besotted man with the horse. Her loving boyfriend.

Just then, her phone starts to go off. Denise was calling. "Hello?"

"How's the trip?"

The older woman asks and Lucy can hear her smile.

Lucy sighs, "Fine, I guess."

"Is everything alright? Are you not enjoying yourself?"

"Flynn is leaving me for a horse."

It's quiet for a moment and Denise takes a deep breath. "An actual horse or do I have to castrate him?"

There's a high-pitched neigh and see Flynn grinning at the mare's antics. With an amused huff, Lucy aims her phone at them, catching Flynn looking in her direction, and takes a picture.

"Here's the other woman," she tells Denise before sending the picture. 

[ ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ESc4zQlU4AAqgRN.png)

Denise texts back, "Pretty sure that's illegal in Utah, but might be legal in New Jersey. Everything is legal in New Jersey."

Lucy is annoyed, the  _ one _ time the dour woman decides to be hilarious. But Lucy chuckles anyway. She's being ridiculous, right?

She glances back up and Flynn is petting the mare. "Please don't tell me you've named her?"

Flynn looks hella guilty.

"I haven't not NOT named her." He says with an 'innocent' look.

Lucy rolls her eyes. Of course he's named her. This man was soft for animals and she was soft for him. But she'd be  _ damned  _ if that horse was coming home with them. The little she-devil was ruining her trip.

She gives him another Look. Flynn looks put out.

"Fine. I named her in my head. But that doesn't count!" he adds defensively, pointing at her.

She gives him an indulgent sigh. "Honey, you know we can't take her with us. Besides, we're barely halfway through our trip!"

"Easy. I'll talk to our guide and he'll look after her while we finish the rest of our tour."

Stubborn, stubborn, STUBBORN man. She shakes her head. "Not even 'technically' named nor taken home yet, and she's already coming between us."

Flynn's face falls. He can tell Lucy was annoyed. Frustrated even, but he couldn't figure out why... okay, he knew WHY, but he was like this for all the various animals they encountered. Just a couple of days ago, he was begging her to take the dog that had followed them home. Why was this horse any different? He could see that Lucy was on the phone, so he didn't want to interrupt and ask her what was wrong. She'd most likely brush him off anyway.

"Mommy's upset with me again, Wilimema." He whispered to the mare. She nudges his chest and he reflexively taps the box in the inside pocket. It was still there. "I don't want to give it to her when she's mad at me." He says with a pout.

The mare seems to glare at him and nudges him again. This time pushing him towards the car.

"I get what you're saying, but she's on the phone. I'll talk to her after."

"Talk to her after about what?"

Flynn jumps at hearing Lucy's voice just behind him. "That I'll talk to you about where we'll relocate once we adopt her," he lies smoothly with a toothy grin.

The slight smile she had on her face is immediately replaced with annoyance. She rolls her eyes. "Yay... Can we go now?"

The horse nudges him again and he shoots her a quick glare. "Um, maybe we can sit here a while. Talk."

"With the demon horse? No thank you Garcia."

The mare response in what sounded like a very derisive snort.

"Come on! You're hurting her feelings!" He pets her snout soothingly.

"You speak Horse now?"

He gives her a look. "While they don't speak our language, animals can pick up on our mood, some more intuitively than others," he explains in a patient tone. "While domesticated animals like dogs and cats pick up more clues on our emotions by the tone of their voice."

She crosses her arms, finding his explanation both fascinating and outrageous. "And little demon mare here?"

His head lowers, exasperation in his face. "While I suspect she's not domesticated, she's able to pick up on our dispositions right away. That's why she comes to me easily because of the energy I put off."

Lucy's brow twitch. She was expecting him to reveal the punchline, but it turns out he  _ is  _ earnest in what he was saying.

"But I was trying to be nice to her when I first approached, and she even tried to bite me! So explain THAT, Horse Whisperer."

He scratches the back of his head, looking like the abashed overgrown boy that he is. "Wilimema  _ is  _ a juvenile, after all," he points out. "Every living thing goes through its rebellious phases."

She blinks several times. The mare's been christened. This relationship is doomed.

"Please, Lucy," he calls to her softly. "Can we just sit for a moment?"

Lucy sighs heavily, tired and wanting to return to the hotel. "Flynn. I really don't want to."

_ 'Shit.' _ He thinks. She only calls him Flynn when she's really upset with him. Maybe he's pushed her too far with his love of animals? He subtly taps the box again when she looks away.

He drove her here for a reason and got distracted by the mare. 'Damn it!' He thinks as he stares at Lucy. Asking now would seem insulting.

"You've spent more time with animals this trip then with me. We took this trip because we don't see each other enough, and yet..." Lucy shrugs, looking at the ground. "I love you, but I don't think this was a great idea."

Flynn suddenly goes into panic mode. "What wasn't?" His hand tightens on the horse's hair a bit.

"Us. This trip. You're so distracted by every little thing. Maybe it was just bad timing."

He moves closer to her so suddenly that she has to take a step back. His hands on her face are shaking and he's on the verge of tears. "I-I-I I'm sorry. I love you. Please don't… don't do this. I need you. I can't… Don't leave me." He rests his head on hers, breathing hard.

Lucy looks confused for a moment before she realizes what she's said and how it was taken. Her hands go to cover his wrist. "I'm not breaking up with you, you big dummy."

Flynn lifts his head to make eye contact, "No?"

She smiles, "No. I meant us on this trip was bad timing."

He feels the relief wash over him, but it wasn't enough to quell his anxiety.

"'Bad timing'?" he asks, baffled. "What do you mean?"

Wilimema chooses that moment to nudge Flynn, pushing him closer to Lucy.

"Oh!"

"Wilimema!"

Lucy looks at the mare and it seems to glare back. She really doesn't like that horse, but Flynn is pressed against her. "Bad timing as in you clearly want a relaxing vacation with various animals running about and I want a week of not leaving the hotel bed."

Flynn blushes.

"So... Do you want to go to the hotel now?"

Lucy shakes her head with a tender smile. "It's fine. We can do that after our tour. Besides, it's not everyday I see a love affair between you and a horse." She smirks.

Garcia looks like he choked on his spit, while the mare–Wilhelmina?–gave what sounded like an indignant whinny.

"Oho! You ARE jealous!" He looks highly amused by this. 

"Me? Of a horse?" She scoffs.

Flynn just smiles at her as he wraps his arms around her. "You know I only have eyes for you, _draga_." He kisses her nose and Wilimema gives a huff.

"I think your wife would disagree." She leans her head on his chest and feels something, but ignores it. It's probably his wallet.

Wilimena huffs again, this time nudging Flynn, hard, he almost loses his balance with Lucy leaning against him. "Wilimema!"

She practically whacks him with her about and sends both of them to the ground. Lucy shouts out in panic, Flynn immediately rolling them, getting them away from Wilimema's hooves. But it wasn't necessary as the mare made no other moves and watched them expectantly.

"Ow!" Lucy moaned, her hand landing on top of the ring box in his pocket. "What do you have in there? It jabbed me."

"Ah..." Flynn stumbled. "It's not important."

Wilimema let out a very loud neigh.

"Your wife thinks you're lying," Lucy grouses.

Flynn gets a bit frustrated. "It's not the horse I want to marry."

Lucy pauses in her attempt to stand up. "I'm sorry, what?"

Flynn closes his eyes, this wasn't how he wanted it to go.

"I said," he repeats slowly, helping her to stand and dusting off her cardigan and jeans, "it's not the horse I want to marry."

He gets down again, on one knee, digging into his pocket. The little velvet box acquired a few dents, but it was mostly fine, and he was able to open it.

Lucy has been staring at him with a perplexed scowl until she hears Flynn's words. Her hands fly to her mouth seeing the little box, so tiny in Flynn's open hand.

"It's you, Lucy Preston. It's always been you."

Flynn's hands feel numb, his throat dry. He loves Lucy so much, he wants to spend the rest of his life with this amazing woman. The one who believed in him when no one else did. The one who...

"Did you call me a horse?" Lucy asked him.

Flynn completely derailed. "Ah, did I?"

"You clearly said that she wasn't the 'horse' you wanted to marry," Lucy got that teacher's voice thing going. "Which means  **I** am the horse you want to marry."

Flynn realizes what he said and Wilimema makes a sound that could only be interpreted as laughing. Flynn is suddenly mortified, pulling his hands back and starting to stutter an apology.

Lucy smiles, hands going to his face to gently make him look up at her. "You're adorable when you're nervous."

She leans in and kisses him, and suddenly everything is right again.

"The answer is yes, by the way."


	6. Epithets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [ #FlynnFriday imagine](https://twitter.com/thalia_msr/status/1235872457933742080): After Rittenhouse is defeated Flynn needs to work off his anger and frustration at not being able to save his family. So he takes up MMA. Lucy has to intervene when he breaks one of his opponent's arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Angst!!, death mention, grief/mourning, death of a child mention.
> 
> But the angst won't last. Promise.

Lucy arrives just as the ambulance is being driven away with the unlucky sparring partner. A cop car also sits in the parking lot, which adds to Lucy's worry.

She enters the gym and a dozen sets of eyes gesture to where Flynn is sitting, fiddling with his hand wrappings.

The cop is talking to the gym owner, whose face is unreadable. Accidents happen, but lately Flynn has become more and more frustrated.

He loves her, with all his being, she knows that, but there is a specific kind of pain that comes from knowing you have the ability to save your loved ones from death, but you can't because you have no idea how many other families you'd be consigning to death if you do.

Lucy walks over to Flynn, he glances up at her.

"Who and what did you break this time?"

He looks ashamed before he stands and gives her a peck on the cheek. "Thomas. I broke his elbow. But it was an accident!" He hastily added the last part.

"You've been having a lot of accidents lately. We know the cops by name."

A retort seems to be at the tip of his tongue, but Lucy could see him go through a mental catalog of said accidents before deflating in silence, going back to unwrapping his hands instead.

Lucy sits by him, stopping herself from taking his hand. This isn't what he needs, she feels. "Are the police done with you? Do you want to get out of here?"

Flynn looks over at Officer Dan, who looks annoyed to see him  _ again _ . He looks expectantly at him and the Officer just waves him off. "Yeah, let's get out of here. I'm hungry. Are you hungry? Let's eat."

Flynn stands with his bag and heads towards the exit. Lucy knows he talks fast when he's restless. And he's just a ball of energy right now. She follows behind.

Flynn is in the driver's seat by the time she makes it outside. "I'm driving. I don't need you killing anyone because they cut you off."

Flynn huffs, but complies, knowing she was probably right.

Lucy drives out of the parking lot, and just keeps driving. Flynn doesn't notice at first, his mind lost in thought as the landscape passes by.

Eventually, everything starts to look familiar. He snaps his eyes to Lucy, his mouth falling open into questions he can't articulate.

"I understand if you can't talk to me about this," Lucy tells him as she pulls onto a gravel road. "But you have to talk to someone."

"Lucy..."

"I'll wait in the car," she says as they come to a stop.

He glances out the window, his family's headstone visible in the distance. 

He clutches her hand. "No, I—" he takes a breath, lets it out slowly. "I... can't do this on my own," he confesses.

She gazes at him in her unfathomable understanding and kindness, and likely also searching for any hesitation. He lifts his chin slightly, lets her have her fill. 

_ 'Yes, Lucy, I need you,' _ he says with his answering gaze.

She turns her palm up in his hand and squeezes back.

They get out of the car, but Flynn doesn't take any step further. 

"Flynn?" Lucy calls out softly as she stops and stands beside him.

She doesn't say anything else, but waits quietly beside him, her gaze and her overall demeanor relaxed.

He will never not be grateful to gain the devotion of this wonderful angel.

Flynn takes her hand again, hoping that the contact will keep him from drifting too far. He breathes in, and tries to speak.

He manages in halting words. "Years ago... after that trip for the missing Watergate tapes. I came here, you know. A reminder, why I did those things I did. To keep me going. I vowed that the next time I come back here is before... before I take one more trip to save them."

Lucy suddenly feels awful about bringing him here. "Should I not have brought you? This was a stupid idea, I should have  _ asked _ -"

"Lucy." His voice is soft and full of emotion. "You did nothing wrong. This was a great idea. I… I need to tell them why I can't save them."

Lucy takes a cleansing breath, glad to know she was right to bring him here. She had been thinking about it for weeks, once she realized the root of his frustration. She just didn't know how to broach the subject.

Then they were in the car and it was like she just... knew. But she also knew that this was about more than saying goodbye to those he can't save.

"And..." she prompts him gently.

"And..." his voice is hoarse and cracked... "beg them for forgiveness."

She wants to tell him that of course they will forgive him for doing what needed to be done in order to stop Rittenhouse and save untold thousands.

But he didn't need to hear it from her, he needed to hear it from them... 

She offers him a small, encouraging smile. "Shall we?"

He forces his eyes from the forest of tombstones to the woman by his side, rubbing gentle circles on her knuckles. It will be dark eventually, and he'd rather not keep this angel waiting.

He nods, leading the way.

But he does seem to walk almost at a snail's pace. He wants to explain to his girls why he can't save them and that he loves them, but he couldn't think of what to say. Are they angry with him? Will they be able to forgive him? Do they know he's found happiness again with Lucy? He almost starts to have a panic attack, but Lucy's strong grip on his hand keeps him grounded enough to push through it.

He stops a few headstones away and turns to the angel at his side. "D-do you mind waiting here?"

Lucy gives him a puzzled look, didn't he want her by his side?

He sees her confusion and rushes to explain, "I want you with me, I do,  _ draga _ . I just… I haven't told them… about us… it would be rude, I think, to show up with you on my arm."

He looks so conflicted and at a loss for words that Lucy shuts him up with her hands on his face. "Go."

Flynn walks up to the headstone, every step feeling like a thousand.

He's always struck by the epithets:  _ Wife, Daughter _ .

Even though he was being framed for their murders, Lorena's family knew he could never have done such a thing. He could never hurt his girls.

Couldn't save them, either.

Or well, he could, but not at the price of the blood of everyone Rittenhouse would destroy if left unchecked.

A little part of him held out hope that Rufus and Jiya would find a way to save them and keep the timeline intact, but the longer time went by...

"I feel like I've given up on you," he tells them without preamble, voicing the very thing that was eating him up inside.

He knows there are tears, and he wipes them from his face and takes a deep breath.

"I, ah, should catch you up, first..."

He spends a while talking about his adventures with the team and then defeating Rittenhouse. 

He looks back at Lucy and sees her not so subtly watching him. He smiles a little. "I...I brought someone. Lucy. She's um… Lorena, I'm in love with her." He tells her.

"I still love you, but I've known for a long time I needed to let you go." Even before he came to the zero sum conclusion that he could either save them, or stop Rittenhouse. "The man you married, he died that night with you."

He wiped at the tears, again, the gesture almost pointless.

"I know you'd want me to be happy, to find love again, you told me so, back when you were sick." He glanced over at Lucy again. "And I do love Lucy. She's smart, beautiful, and passionate. Remind you of anyone?" He half chuckles despite himself, then sobers up.

The irrational guilt he had been feeling starts to lift away as he finally faces the truth, and accepts that he can forgive himself because Lorena would.

But there is still one other he carries in his heart...

"Iris... my beautiful little flower..." Tears fall again anew.

"I'm so sorry, little one. Tata couldn't protect you from those monsters." He suddenly found himself on his knees, a hand braced against their headstone.

"There are so many things I wanted to teach you, so many things I needed to tell you... but..." He's cut off by shuddering sobs. It's as if a dam broke. Yet, all the things he wanted to say, wished for, for his only daughter, all lodged in between his heart and his throat. And at the same time, he fears that if he let them go, he might lose that tenuous connection to Iris...

A small voice tells him he's being irrational. He rails against it: with Lorena, the love of his life, he's lived a good life with. Iris, however, barely started hers.

This... this was the anger that always rose up in him. That led him to want to push and push until something broke, usually the other person.

"Forgive me," he whispered over and over again.

The wind kicked up, it had a few times, on this gentle breeze the scent of something sweet was carried on it. It smelt of irises. He glanced around, looking for the source. There had to be the flowers on someone else's grave, but not that he could see.

His eyes fall on Lucy who has been waiting, watching, letting him get this out of him so it would stop eating himself up inside.

He held out his hand to her, asking her to join him.

It was about time he properly introduced her.

She walks up and takes his hand. He's still kneeling, on hand holding hers, the other on the headstone. "Girls. This is Lucy. She's been taking real good care of me since I lost you. Saved my life right from the beginning. You both would have loved her."

Tears are falling down his face again while Lucy leans forward to place her free hand on the headstone.

"I'm not really sure how this works." She says and she can hear Flynn chuckle, "But I promise I'll look after him for you Lorena. We love a good man. I'll try to protect his heart. And Iris, I know

that you wanted siblings. Your father talks about you all the time. I hope you're both at peace and happy with what I'm about to say."

She moves the hand holding Flynn's to rest on her stomach. His eyes widen when he realizes what she's telling him. "Lucy?" He stands with both hands on all of his girls. "You're pregnant?"

She nods with a shy smile, hoping this wasn't horrible timing.

His smile is like the sun. "Hear that girls? We're having a baby."

Another gust of wind breezes by smelling of Irises and Lorena's favorite perfume. They're happy.


	7. Lifeguard AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [#FlynnFriday imagine](https://twitter.com/thalia_msr/status/1238381618571640833): The Rittenhouse Club has just acquired new land with a beach. They hire a lifeguard(Flynn) to oversee their guest. Lucy's first encounter with the handsome young man happens when he saves Amy from drowning. Do we detect a spark?
> 
> #Garcy #LifeguardAU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a crazy few weeks that it disrupted our usual regular posting. So, while we try to get our bearings, read about two awkward turtles trying to communicate. You know - your usual Garcy fare. ^^

[ ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ES-dhHSWkAEpgw1?format=jpg&name=small)

  
  


Lucy is amused as, just like clockwork, the sun beds surrounding the pool are quickly filled up by women in various skimpy outfits. They're obviously primping and trying to make themselves more... presentable.

"Okay, who stuck a rod up your ass?" A voice calls from her periphery.

She sighs before putting on a smile, tossing her head at the direction of the pool. "Sunbathing at 3 o'clock isn't healthy, and yet the beds are full."

Lucy's sister, Amy, comes up beside her, following her sister's gaze before bursting into laughter. " _ Oh _ . The sharks are out for the fresh meat!"

Lucy scowls at her. "Fresh meat?"

Just then, the door to the staff room opens, and out emerges an unfamiliar tall figure. The tittering around the pool could not be more obvious.

The tall man walks by the row of women and flashes them a smile with a wave. They all wave back and plaster on their biggest smiles.

"Disgusting. Some of them are grandmothers." Amy quips in Lucy's ear.

"He is very handsome." Lucy comments, taking in the new lifeguard.

Amy rolls her eyes playfully, "Oh dear sister, what about Noah? Your soon-to-be doctor?"

Lucy sighs, removing her eyes from the stranger. Not seeing him look in her direction. "Noah and I broke up. He wants to focus on medical school."

"LAAAAME." Amy flops on the chair with her sister. "Maybe Dave can hook you up with one of his army buddies?"

They hear a big splash and look towards the pool. The lifeguard had jumped in… but from the way he was flailing about leaned more towards him falling in.

"Great. Our lifeguard is a klutz. We're gonna drown."

However, the laughter Lucy is expecting from the crowds didn't come. Instead, there are distressed shouts and virtually half the sun beds emptied as they all gather to the spot where the hapless lifeguard fell.

When his head emerges from the water, it's as if time stood still.

"Oh. My..."

Lucy couldn't agree more. Even from the Preston sisters' vantage point, they can definitely see why their mother hired him (why else would they allow such an incompetent hire?). Long, graceful fingers sweep dark hair away, revealing a dazzling smile underneath. The same graceful hands wave away dozens of worried offers of assistance as he swims towards the deep end of the pool, which happened to be where Lucy and Amy are lounging.

He emerges right in front of them, and the sisters are given a better look at the man. Water drips from thick lashes, revealing eyes twinkling in mirth. He spots them after wiping water from his face, and flashes them that same devastating smile bracketed by cute dimples.

"Ladies," he greets them, the smile (and dimples) never leaving his face.

"Heyyyy," Amy practically purrs. "You must be the new lifeguard."

Lucy internally groans.  _ 'Not you, too...' _

He turns his attention to Lucy and she gulps. His eyes are a gorgeous hazel (green? grey?) and when they meet one another’s gaze, the world surrounding them disappears. Lucy finds that she wants those eyes on her in more ways than one and now she is breathing harder and, shit, did he notice? but maybe she doesn’t care and now he’s flashing her a smile that promises far more intimacy than a simple upturning of lips and all she has to do is tell him when and OMG now he’s swimming closer and using his illegally toned shoulders and arms to push himself out of the water RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER and as he rises to his full height, water dripping off of him, she can see that every muscle, every APPENDAGE, is well endowed to the point that her mouth waters.

Lucy snaps out of her silent thirsting only when she hears Amy laughing.

Amy discreetly gestures at Lucy to wipe the corner of her mouth before rising to meet the dripping Adonis.

"Amy Preston." If there is a tone that says 'we own the place', she is sure Amy was using it now. She surprises herself that she was able to pick up on that amidst the dismal groans that from the female crowd on the other side of the pool. She notes from her peripheral vision that they returned to their sunbeds dejectedly.

A look of recognition passes the beautiful creature's face as he inclines his head at his sister. "Garcia Flynn, at your service," he answers, a hint of an accent in his voice to go with his unconventional name.

Lucy rolls her eyes and is well aware of everyone watching them. Or really, him, and being annoyed that his attention is on Amy and not them.

"You should get back to work," Lucy says briskly. "Amy, your friends are here."

Amy turns her head and waved at the couple who had made their way towards them. "Jiya! Rufus!"

Amy moves away and that leaves Lucy with the tall lifeguard. He is still soaking wet and that makes her fluster.

"Miss Preston," he nods to her.

"Lucy," she quickly says, not sure why it matters.

"Lucy," he repeats.

"Carry on."

Lucy makes her escape, walking towards her sister. When she turns back, Flynn had taken off the wet shirt and proceeded to dry himself off.

It is... distracting to say the least.

But she can’t afford distractions. Grading by the pool was her compromise so she wasn’t cooped up inside all weekend… but that means she actually had to GRADE.

Amy had joined Jiya and Rufus. Lucy gives herself a mental shake, settles herself under an umbrella and gets to work.

“You guys are late,” Amy observes.

“A wizard is never late, Amy Preston,” Rufus intones. “Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.”

Jiya and Amy look at each other. Then at him.

“What? You knew I was a geek when you started hanging out with me.”

“We’re all geeks, Rufus,” Jiya says. “It was the implication that we’re both wizards.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know, my wizard is eighth level now.” They reach the chairs they staked out, and Rufus strips off his shirt. Oooh, Jiya definitely enjoys their time at the pool.

“You guys going in?” Amy asks.

“Eh, I burned last time,” Jiya says. “But you go ahead.”

“I pulled a marathon coding session and crashed at four am,” Rufus says. “All I want to do is nap.”

“Okay, be back in a bit.” Amy dives elegantly into the deep end.

Rufus and Jiya settle down on adjacent lounge chairs, sharing an umbrella. He closes his eyes.

“You’re kinda far away,” he murmurs after a minute.

She looks at him with a soft smile. Then she scooted her chair closer and took his hand. “Better?”

“Mmm.” He squeezes her hand.

Jiya watches Amy swimming laps for a few minutes. A bunch of kids are playing in the shallow end, shrieking happily, and farther out, the aerobic grandmas are busy.

Jiya tightens her grip on Rufus’ hand, and contentedly closes her own eyes, letting the breeze lull her.

"You sure you don't wanna join Amy?" Rufus inquires casually. "The water looks real nice."

Jiya opens an eye. "You just want to put sunblock on me," she teases.

"Can I help it if I got a hot girlfriend?" he shoots back with a cheeky grin.

She throws her towel at him. "Well, get slathering, lover boy!"

As he grabs the bottle, Jiya had shifted onto her stomach. Rufus' mouth goes dry as he surveys her lithe form. They've made out–and then some–but it always takes his breath away when he sees her.

"Well? The lotion won't apply itself."

While Rufus is hyperventilating and trying very hard to keep his composure, Jiya turns to Lucy. "Lucy Preston, you are  _ not  _ grading papers right now."

Lucy looks away from the hot lifeguard, who is most definitely a distraction. "I'm  _ trying  _ to grade."

Jiya follows her gaze and gives a low whistle. "Your taste in men has always been impeccable."

Lucy rolls her eyes, but her eyes drift back to the man. His head was turned in her direction, but his sunglasses hid his eyes.

"Where's Jessica?" Rufus asks, breaking the spell Lucy is under.

Lucy turns back to Amy's friends. Her friends, too, she supposes, even if they are mainly Amy's friends. "Jess said she had a surprise for Amy. Went to pick it up. She wouldn't tell me what it was."

Her eyes drift back to Garcia Flynn and his post is surrounded by a sea of women. He is all smiles, but he looks uncomfortable.

"Lucy, stare any harder and you might actually burn a hole in the guy." Rufus teases.

Lucy blushes and sticks her tongue out at the genius.

"Very mature, Professor Preston." Jiya jokes before standing. "Where's Amy?"

Lucy looks around. Amy had moved to a less crowded part of the pool. “Doing laps by Emma.” The second lifeguard watches everything impassively from her high perch near the bend of the L-shaped pool.

Lucy tries again to focus on grading. Mom hadn’t wanted her to take this job. Instead of Lucy teaching summer classes at the district’s most underfunded school, she’d wanted Lucy to appear at her social events, being decorative. So Lucy absolutely would not let the class be too much for her to handle–

Shrieking kids interrupted her thoughts.

Shouts of panic, not excitement– _ Oh God. Someone wasn’t moving!  _

Lucy looks at Emma, who leans leisurely forward–

Suddenly Amy is there, hauling a little boy’s face out of the water. Then an elbow, flailing in panic, clips her temple–

– she goes limp, and goes under.

Rufus screams something at Emma. Jiya dives in, swimming hard. But Lucy feels frozen to the spot.

A dark head cuts through the water. Flynn grabs Amy in one arm and the little boy with the other and hauls them to the side.

And then Amy coughs, and Lucy can breathe, too.

On the exhale, Lucy is running towards Amy with Jiya and Rufus on her heels. Once she is close enough, she can hear Flynn reassuring both Amy and the boy that they are safe.

"AMY!" Lucy said, flinging herself at her sister. "I was so scared!"

Amy coughs a little, but holds her sister just as tight. "I guess we have something else in common." Lucy leans back and gives her a confused look. "We've both drowned before being saved by a hot guy."

Flynn barks out a laugh before trying to cover it up by pretending to cough when Lucy shoots him a glare. He then turns to hand the boy over to his mother, who was  _ very  _ appreciative, but Flynn had seen the whole incident. The mother had pushed the young boy in after he had removed his floaties. He'd be having a word with the manager to ensure she was banned from the pool.

Turning back to Amy, he smiles. "Next time, put your arms around them like a chokehold. Kids love to throw their limbs around when scared. Nice save." He winks at her and Amy nudges her sister. Hard.

"T-t-thank you, Mr. Flynn. For saving my sister." Lucy stutters out.

"I wouldn't want to be fired for letting the boss' daughter drown. Besides, it's my job. Lucky I was paying attention." He practically whispers to Lucy, given how softly he spoke it to her.

Jiya and Rufus don't want to interrupt… whatever the hell is going on, but they desperately want to hug Amy. So they push Lucy out of the way. Causing Lucy to trip over herself and fall into Flynn's chest, where he catches her with a grunt.

"Sorry." She mutters looking up into his eyes. _ 'God, he's tall,' _ she thinks, enthralled with him.

_ 'Act cool.'  _ Flynn thinks, enchanted by her.

They stand that way a moment too long for it to be casual, then jump away from one another when they realize what they were doing. 

Lucy watches as Flynn shakes the water out of his hair, adjusting her swimsuit unconsciously. When Jiya and Rufus start walking Amy back to her reclining chair, Lucy follows, looking at Flynn with a smile. “Thanks again, for saving my sister,” she says. “I guess I’ll see you around, saving more lives?” She winces at her lame comment. 

“If you’re here you will,” he says. He offers his arm. “Can I take you back to your chair?” he asks. Inwardly, he rolls his eyes. He is acting as if he were some chivalrous knight or something equally as lame. 

But Lucy actually smiles, surprising him. “Sure.” She tucks a stray hair behind her ear. 

Their trip across the patio was watched closely by no less than 75 pairs of jealous eyes, all the women who were there solely (or mainly) to try to attract the attention of the single handsome lifeguard.

But Flynn has eyes only for Lucy. He walks her back to her lounge chair, and then notices the papers she had been working on. He nods at them. “Combining work and pleasure?” He is reluctant to get back to his perch, wanting to learn more about his boss’ lovely daughter.

Lucy blushes. "Something like that. I'm teaching a couple summer classes and grading is part of the deal."

He takes the seat across from her. Neither noticing the other three people in their vicinity. "You're a teacher?"

"I'm trying to be. What do you do when you're not saving a life?"

Flynn chuckled and scratched his head. "Ah… Same thing actually. I'm a soldier. Was a soldier. In the Croatian army."

Lucy sits up a little straighter, more intrigued by the handsome man. "Explains the accent."

He is suddenly self conscious, "Is it too thick? My mother is from here, but I grew up in Croatia. I didn't want to lose my accent when I learned English. I still struggle with it from time to time."

"No, it's sexy." Lucy's eyes go wide and Flynn blushes with a smile. "I mean...ya know. It's nice. So, not a soldier, huh? Interesting."

"It's like watching a trainwreck." Jiya whispers to Amy.

Amy watches her sister flirt. Is she flirting? Was HE flirting? God are they horrible at this. She can see the chemistry plain as day. "No way is Lucy getting laid at this rate. They'll both die from embarrassment."

To Amy's horror, the two continue. 

Flynn clears his throat a few times before finally managing to ask Lucy, "What you said, that you are trying to be a teacher. What do you mean by that? I bet you're a great teacher. I mean, you SEEM like a really good teacher." He stops, and pulls on the back of his neck in embarrassment. Amy just stares, slack-jawed.

"Oh, I, um, thank you. I mean, I THINK my students like me. So, thank you." Lucy is blushing, and reaches for her water, but spills half of it down the cleavage of her bathing suit. She laughs self-consciously. 

Jiya looks at her with her mouth hanging open.

Lucy continues. "I teach middle school history, but my dream is to get my PhD."

Jiya and Amy fist pump surreptitiously as Lucy completes a sentence without stuttering or spilling.

"Flynn," a voice barks and he turns his head. Lucy is visibly relieved because she has been, well, floundering like a fish.

The Operations Manager, Denise, walks up. "Get back to your post," she tells him.

He nods to the woman, then glances back at Lucy before making his way back to his perch.

"You okay, Miss Preston?" Denise asks.

"Oh, I'm fine, I mean, why wouldn't I be fine? I'm just, I'm okay."

Denise raises a brow. "I was talking to your sister. The one who almost drowned."

"Oh!" Lucy looks back at her, terrified at her actions of ignoring her after the incident.

Amy doesn't look to be troubled or phased by the incident. She is always the more stalwart of the two. Instead, Amy is smirking at Lucy. She tells her sister to shut up–well, not verbally, but gives her 'the look.'

After a quick back and forth, Denise leaves to go talk to Emma who remains nearly unmoved through the whole incident.

"Emma would have let you drown," Jiya mumbles.

They get into a debate, Rufus wanting to defend Emma who is a friend who taught him how to swim years ago.

Lucy keeps looking back at Flynn.

He wouldn’t get in trouble for talking with her, would he? For God’s sake, the man had just saved Amy’s life.

_ God, Amy. _ Lucy turned back to her sister. “How are you feeling?” Lucy couldn’t lose her. She just couldn't.

Amy coughed. “Like I inhaled water?”

“But how’s your head?”

“Fine. Just got stunned for a sec.” Amy smiles at her. “Seriously, Lucy, I’m fine.”

Lucy hugs her again anyway. 

“How’s  _ your  _ head?” Amy adds with a sly smile.

Lucy raises an eyebrow. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, really, Miss Tripping Over Her Own Tongue?”

“... maybe we should go home.” Lucy tries for dignity as Amy smirks. “You’ve had a rough day.” 

But the truth is, now that she isn’t distracted by a handsome lifeguard... being so close to the pool right now just give Lucy the creeps. The scene is etched in her mind.

Amy texts Jess, and they say goodbye to Rufus and Jiya and head home. 

But the image that sticks with Lucy that day... and that night, and the next day... isn’t what she expected: it was dimples, and muscles, and warm, intelligent eyes.

A touch of sunstroke, clearly.

So she keeps thinking of him at the most random times. So she remembered the feel of his solid chest when he caught her. So what?

Still... she should thank him again for saving Amy. It was just common courtesy. It was practically an obligation. She didn’t want to be  _ rude _ .

Which is why three days later, when she is finally able to muster up the courage to go back to the pool for another afternoon of pretending to grade papers, she finds herself arriving at the pool early to grab a row of chairs close to the handsome lifeguard who saved her sister’s life. 

She set out towels to save chairs for Amy and her boyfriend Dave, as well as their friend Jessica. She is early; the pool doesn’t officially open to members for another 20 minutes, but she wants to talk to Flynn before her friends and Flynn’s fan club arrive.

But there is no one else there. Lucy feels like a fool sitting there on her own saving five chairs at a completely empty pool; however, she figures she’d use the time to actually grade her students’ homework.

She manages to make it through the work of three students before the door to the employees’ locker room opens and there he was, tall, dark, dimpled, muscular, and handsome. He doesn’t see her at first, focused as he was on his task of skimming dead bugs and leaves out of the pool to prepare it for the afternoon’s swimmers. 

She remains silent, content to simply enjoy the view for a minute or two. But her loud screech when a wasp started buzzing nearby alerted him to her presence.

Lucy had a very bad incident with wasps when she was younger. She got trapped in a confined area with them and stung multiple times. Her fears drive her into something of a panic and she stands quickly to get away.

But with her eyes focused on the wasp, she misses her footing.

Lucy falls into the pool with a splash, hitting the water hard like a belly flop, only on her back.

She swallows some water and gets turned around, her bathing suit wrap getting tangled up around her.

Already struck by fear with the wasps, she has flashbacks to the time she almost drowned. Noah had saved her that time. But he wasn't there to do so again.

As her lungs burned and she struggled to figure out which way was up... things started to go dark.

Then time seems to unfreeze for Lucy as limbs envelop her and she floats, floats up to the surface and she breaches it, her and her mysterious rescuer. She wants to open her mouth to thank them, but couldn't muster the strength to do so.

As soon as she feels solid ground on her back and the breeze on her face, she is reminded of the need to BREATHE. 

She chokes, and coughs out the water. It dribbles from her lips, but she doesn't care; the force of her coughing propelling her to sit up–

"AAAGH!  _ Jebote _ !"

Lucy suddenly feels a sharp pain on her forehead and she forces her eyes open. Flynn is in front of her. Holding his nose. His bleeding nose.

Her eyes widen when she realizes she headbutted him. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

Flynn chuckles, bewildered by the question. "Shouldn't I be asking  _ you  _ that? You almost drowned. I'm starting to think this pool is trying to kill you Preston women."

Lucy blushes as she laughs. "Amy was trying to save a kid. I'm just naturally clumsy...But seriously l–you’re bleeding. Come on."

Lucy helps him to his feet and drags him over to the chairs she was saving. She takes her towel and replaces his hand with it. Tilting his head up, her gaze moves to his neck. She has an intense urge to run her tongue along the paths made by the droplets of water.

"You stopped talking. You okay?"

She shakes her head. "Stop talking, you," she chides playfully, keeping his head tilted. Any other words fade from her thoughts as her gaze follows the water droplets chasing each other down his tanned chest, abdomen, pooling in the trench created by sunken scar tissue in the middle of his flat stomach. She itched to li–

She covers the high-pitched squeak by clearing her throat. "That, uh, looks like it has quite a story to it." 

_ 'Idiot! _ ' her mind yells at her. _ 'There could be a traumatic history behind it.' _

_ 'Either that or I ask if I should kiss it better,'  _ her other voice shoots back.

"Not very exciting, I'm afraid," he admitted. "Surgery for gastric ulcer."

"Ah." She isn't turned off; in fact, it turned her on more that he isn't self-conscious about it...

_ 'Get a grip, woman! And we're not watching water trail down beyond those lovely abs, we're not.' _

Flynn drops his head forward, his eyes shining with amusement. "Ah...You can stare at my abs if you wish Miss Preston. In fact, I encourage you to."

Lucy's face turns beet red. She didn't realize she had said that out loud. And his comment about encouraging her ogling has her heart pounding. "I..."

Flynn lowers the towel from his face and it is his turn to blush, "That was wildly inappropriate. I've made you uncomfortable and I apologize, Miss Preston." He takes a step back, but Lucy follows him, her hand reaching for his wrist.

"NO!...You haven't made me uncomfortable. Your words just surprised me."

"Oh...okay."

They stare at each other. Smiles gracing both their faces.

This is how Dave finds them a few moments later. "What the hell is this?"

Lucy and Flynn shoot apart. Dave is extremely amused, but he is currently in protective brother mode and couldn't let it show. He is carrying a cooler in his hands and quickly puts it on the ground so he can properly size up the lifeguard. He extends his hand out, "Dave Baumgartner. You are?"

Flynn looks at his hand and then at Lucy a little bit confused, until he realizes that this might be her boyfriend. Dejectedly he shook Dave's hand. "Garcia Flynn."

Dave suddenly smiles at him, realizing who he was. "You saved Amy. I've been meaning to thank you, but she wasn't up to coming 'round."

Hope flares in Flynn’s eyes, and he looks to Lucy for confirmation. 

“Dave is Amy’s boyfriend,” she explains. “He was horrified at what happened to Amy...”

“But so grateful you were there to save her. Thank you, man,” Dave interrupted. 

Flynn nods. “Just doing my job.”

Dave seems to gather his senses and remembers that he was interrupting something when he walked up to Lucy and Flynn. Clapping Flynn on the shoulder, he says, “I’ll leave you two to it. I’ve got a few more things to bring in from the car, including Amy.”

Lucy smiles. “Looks like the masses are about to join us,” she said. She watches as a drop of water falls from Flynn’s hair onto his face, and tries not to moan.

“Yeah.” Flynn is disappointed. He hadn’t been sure he’d see Lucy again when she hadn’t come to the pool for a while after Amy’s accident. “It can be a bit... stifling... here.” He wants to see her somewhere that wasn’t the pool. Although it had allowed them to meet, they haven’t exactly had the best of luck there at the Club. He opens his mouth to try to ask her out, when Lucy speaks up.

“Yeah, pools can be stifling, for sure, I mean, not the pools themselves, but sitting by a pool, and, I mean, that’s what you DO, so yeah, definitely I can see what you mean, and  _ oh _ ! I hope you’re wearing sunscreen!”

She has no idea what she had just said. She had wanted to ask him out but had blathered on about the pool being hot and sunscreen, and when she finally has the courage to look at him again after her embarrassing attempt, she is horrified to see that Amy, Dave, and Jessica are all standing there staring at her, amused smiles on their faces.

Flynn becomes aware that he still has blood on his face and hand. Thankfully she hasn't broken his nose, just did enough damage to cause it to bleed.

"I should, ah, go, clean up," Flynn says and hastily makes his retreat.

Back in the staff area, he washes up and makes sure he has stopped bleeding.

He still has a few minutes before he has to get back out there, but his thoughts are a jumble.

Lucy is beautiful, and smart, and she was interested in him, right? But she is the boss’ daughter! That right there was a no-go, he should stop his train of thought right there.

_ But... Lucy... _

He needs to talk to someone about this, so he picks up his phone and starts a text to his ex-wife.

They had found each other during a war, had a beautiful little girl, but ultimately, once life settled down, they found they made better friends than lovers. 

They still hang out together and take Iris to places as a family. There was no point in being petty about their relationship.

_ 'You free for dinner tonight?' _ he texts her.

_ 'Sure,' _ she responds after a minute.

_ 'Good, need your advice on something.' _

_ 'What kind of something?' _

Flynn pauses, not sure how to phrase his quandary.

_ 'I'll tell you later, it's not a big rush.' _

_ 'Okay.' _

Flynn puts his phone away and goes back outside. Clearly he is distracted, because he knows Lorena would never just leave something as 'okay.'

An hour later, he is on his perch, once again staring at Lucy. She finished grading papers and is reading on her chair. He can't tell what she was reading, but it captured her attention. And she captured his.

_ 'Beautiful. Intelligent. Cute smile.'  _ He thinks with a sigh.

He has a crush on his boss's daughter. He is certain of it. A loud splash catches his attention, but it was just kids doing cannonballs.

His eyes drift over to Emma to ensure she was keeping an eye on them. He catches her eye and she points towards the entrance. He shifts his gaze once more and his face lights up at what he sees. Lorena had walked in with Iris. He quickly climbs down and rushes over to them, not noticing he was being watched.

" _ Moj anđeo _ !" Flynn says as he lifts a 2-year-old Iris out of her mother's arms.

" _ Tata _ !" Iris squeals in delight.

"What are you doing here?" Flynn asks as he greets Lorena with a kiss on her cheek.

"I had nothing to do today and your text made me realize that I haven't used the free pass you gave me for this place."

"It's not too fancy?"

Lorena gives the pool area a good once over. "Eh. Rich people know how to relax." She then looks around again, suddenly aware of all the eyes on them. "Garcia...Are you aware that almost every female in this place is staring at us?"

Flynn looks around and his gaze lingers on Lucy for a moment, she was the only one  _ not  _ looking. He's not NOT disappointed. "So? I'm hot. You used to think so."

Lorena rolls her eyes. "You become less attractive the more you talk."

Flynn laughs and puts his arm around her in a side hug. "Yet you married me."

"We're divorced."

"Is it because I let myself go?"

Lorena chuckles, shaking her head and covering her eyes for a second. It was good that they can retain the humor and stay friends, for their daughter's sake, but also for their own mental well-being.

"You said you wanted to talk?"

Flynn's eyes flicks over to one of the women sitting near his perch. He may not have realized that he had, but Lorena catches the action.

"I'm kinda working right now."

" _ Tata _ !!!" Iris was trying to escape him. " _ Yoda _ !"

He’s pretty sure she is trying to say 'voda' as in water.

"You take her in," Lorena said, "You're the better swimmer, obviously."

Flynn can't be more pleased with the idea. He'd already given Iris swimming lessons which she had taken quite a liking to. However, "I can't stay in too long, I still have a job to do."

"I'll take over in a bit, let me get some sun," Lorena adds.

He says his thanks by giving her a friendly kiss on the cheek again, then takes Iris to the shallow end.

Lorena notes how the women watch him whilst somehow throwing dagger eyes at her. She had gotten used to it while they were married so it doesn't bother her. Yes, Garcia was hot, she done knew and still gave him up because it was the right thing for both of them.

But there was one woman who seemed to refuse to look at anything other than the same piece of paper she'd been staring at blankly for the whole exchange.

The same woman Garcia looked at earlier...

And would you look at that. There is an empty chair next to her.

“Is this seat taken?”

The woman’s smile is somehow pained and genuinely friendly at the same time. Interesting. “No. Please.” She gestures invitingly.

“Thanks.” Lorena sits down. “With all those women over there glaring at me for talking to my ex, I’m afraid to get too close.”

“Oh.” Then, in a much different tone: “ _ Oh _ !”

Lorena smiles inwardly.

“So you’re G– Mr. Flynn’s... ex?”

“Garcia? Yeah.”

The woman flushes pink, looking inexplicably apologetic. Lorena pretends it was sunburn. “I’m Lorena,” she adds.

“Hi. Lucy.”

“How’s the water?”

“I promised I’d take over in a few minutes,” Lorena explains.

“It’s a little chilly,” Lucy says. “Though if I’d been expecting it–uh.” Back to pink. “I fell in,” she explains. “And, uh, Garcia, had to fish me out.”

“You know, I think he probably didn’t mind,” Lorena muses.

“I mean... he probably minded the nosebleed.” Lucy makes sheepish eye contact. After a startled moment, they both laugh.

“That must be your little girl?” Lucy adds.

“Yes. Iris is two.” Lorena smiles. “Do you come here a lot?”

“Well... my sister and her friends like it.”

Lucy looks wistful. “And a lot of the places I used to go, were with my ex, so...”

Lorena made a sympathetic noise.

“Or, my mother’s friends are there, who tell me we should get back together because he ‘needs looking after.’ Like he’s a pet and I’m chopped liver!”

“Oh, God,” Lorena sighs. “I got that, too, after we separated.  _ Not  _ from Garcia, obviously. But it’s the worst.”

She and Lucy make eye contact. The simultaneous eye roll of solidarity convinces Lorena she wants to be friends with this woman, whatever Garcia did. Or didn’t.

“Take Garcia, for example,” she adds. Too obvious? “He’s one of my best friends, so of course I hope he finds someone nice. And of course he’d make the right woman happy.” Or the right man, but that wasn’t hers to share. “But he’s still a grown man who can look after himself.”

“Exactly.” Lucy looks thoughtful.

“Anyway, I’d better go, I know Garcia’s on duty.” She stands. “It was great to meet you. I hope we run into each other again.”

“Yeah. I’d like that.” Lucy smiles, and waves as Lorena walks to the pool’s edge. After all, why take the long way?

Lorena swims over to where Garcia is playing with Iris who had on her floaties now. He was acting like a big dork which had all the women making soft eyes at him. Until she swam up, of course.

"I got her," Lorena says, "you can get back to work."

"Yeah, ah," he replies as he passes Iris over to her. Then he stutters.

"She seems nice," Lorena winks.

"She's the owner's daughter."

"Oh." Well, that explains a few things. "We'll talk later."

"Speaking of, what did you say to her?"

Lorena smiles. "Just some pleasantries."

"Why do I not trust you?"

"Because you're a smart man," she winks.

He wanted to be annoyed, but he really should have seen that coming. Instead, he swims across the pool to his lifeguard stand. Instead of using the steps, he grabbed the ledge and hauled himself up.

He glances over at Lucy who was watching him this time. He grabs a towel and dries off, well aware she was not looking away as she had before. This makes him more pleased than it had any right to.

Climbing up onto his perch, he waves at Iris who was splashing around.

"Cute kid," Lucy calls up to him.

"She is."

Lucy smiles at his response, then sits looking thoughtfully at the pool. Lorena had seemed to hint that she’d LIKE the idea of Lucy pursuing something with Garcia. Is she just imagining things because she’d been able to think of nothing but him since he’d saved Amy?

Garcia watches as Lucy stared at the water, a small smile gracing her lips, appearing lost in thought. Whatever it was Lorena had said to her, Lucy did not seem bothered by it in the slightest. In fact, she almost looks at peace. Could Lorena have given Lucy her blessing to pursue something with him? Did she even  _ want  _ that? He knows he needs to talk to Lucy, but time has in no way improved his ability to talk to women. To this day, he still can’t believe Lorena ever agreed to go out with him. Fate had smiled upon him that day for sure.

But he can't just ask her out could he? She was his boss's daughter. And Carol Preston was someone he DEFINITELY did not want to piss off. In fact she has specifically said, "Don't piss me off and you should be just fine here Mr. Flynn." He thought he'd have nothing to worry about. Now here he was, trying to decide if it was a good idea to ask her daughter out.

"Think any harder and you might pop something." A voice startles him out of his thoughts. He looks down and finds Emma.

"I thought you were scheduled to relieve me?"

"I am. But I figured I would check on you. It is your first shift by yourself. Wanted to make sure the demons they call children didn't overwhelm you."

Flynn rolls his eyes. He doesn't like Emma too much. She worked here a while and she always spoke as if she was entitled to the luxuries of the club.

And she makes it known that she has authority over the employees.

"Thanks for checking, but I'm fine. No drowning or fighting has happened on my shift so far." He glances over at Lucy. She fell in  _ before  _ his shift, so it wasn't a lie.

"Who the hell is that?" Emma points over to where Lorena was swimming with Iris. "You know you can't let any unsavory characters in. They gotta be a member. Or at least rich enough to buy their way in."

Flynn grips the armrest of his chair hard enough that his knuckles turned white. He takes a breath. "Those unsavory characters are my family. My daughter Iris and her mother. You gave me badges for them, remember?"

"Do they have the badges on them?"

Flynn huffs out an annoyed sigh, "I'm sure they do. Is there something you need, Emma? I'm busy."

"Don't speak to-"

"Is there a problem here?"

Both heads turn to the source of the voice. Lucy.

"No problem at all, Princess. I was just reminding Mr. Flynn here that his family has to have their badges on them. Otherwise they have to leave."

Flynn glares down at the red head. He REALLY hated her.

"They have them. I’ve seen Lorena place it in the diaper bag. Even if they didnt what harm would it do to let them enjoy the pool?" Lucy raises a brow, waiting for Emma to respond, but all she does is glare back at her.

Emma walks off and Lucy looks towards Flynn, who looked relieved that she was gone.

"She does not seem like someone I'd want to hang out with," Lucy says to Flynn. 

"She's fairly unpleasant," Flynn agrees.

"I'd say I wonder how she got hired, but to be honest, she seems like someone my mother would be friends with," Lucy says grimly. 

Flynn huffs a laugh.

"Yeah, I can see that." He looks at her thoughtfully. "How was she as a mother? When you were growing up, I mean."

Lucy seems to melt into his gaze. She had just met him, yet he cares more about her and where she came from than many people she considered friends.

She leans towards him, shy, but wanting to share, and replies, "It wasn't easy. She was very demanding, very controlling. Most of my hobbies were things she wanted me to do. Luckily, History Club was during school hours. She never knew about it."

He laughs, appreciating her opening up to him. He clears his throat, wanting to steer the conversation towards the two of them, hoping to make it a natural shift, but knowing he'd likely fail miserably. "Er, and um..." He is off to a great start. "What about your dating life? Did she try to control that too?" Okay, maybe that hadn't been so bad. 

Lucy thinks of her relationship with Noah and feels slightly nauseous, remembering how much influence her mother had played during their time together.

"Oh," Lucy sighs, "I could be with whoever I wanted, so long as they fit inside a very specific set of parameters." She finishes the sentence, gritting her teeth.

"Was there, ah, a height parameter?"

"Thank goodness no, because I like my men tall," she says without thinking.

"Really?" he says and he looks like he is about to sunstroke out.

"Ah, yes," she suddenly needed to look anywhere but at him.

“That’s interesting,” he says, his voice low and gravelly. 

“It is.” She looks up at him, still in his lifeguard chair, and raises her eyebrows. 

He doesn’t want to leave his station again, figuring if he stands any chance with Lucy, he’d have to toe every line he possibly can.

" _ Tata _ !" Iris calls out to him and he instantly finds her. Lorena was walking up, their daughter wrapped in a blanket.

"I told her you would see you before we left," she says, holding Iris up so Flynn can grab her, lifting her high up so she squeals in delight.

Lucy clears her throat, "Leaving so soon?"

"Yeah, did not like the look that red-head was giving me." Lorena nearly shudders.

"She's a piece of work," Lucy agrees.

"Well, it was lovely meeting you." Lorena smiles and it seemed genuine. "It's good to know Garcia has people here on his side."

"He's a good man," Lucy says easily.

"Yes, he is." Lorena nods, then leaned in. "But he's horrible at flirting, I recommend you ask him out first."

Lucy does a double-take, "What?"

Lorena was already taking Iris from Flynn. "Say ‘bye-bye,  _ tata _ .’"

"Bye-bye,  _ tata _ !" Iris giggles.

"We'll talk later," Lorena tells Flynn, giving him a wink.

He knows that look. He glances over at Lucy who was looking a bit peculiar.  _ Oh no, what did she do? _

They both watch Lorena walk away with Iris. Flynn keeps glancing over at Lucy. She seems to be thinking hard on something.

"She's interesting." She finally says.

He chuckles, "Lorena is truly something else."

Lucy takes a step closer to his chair and he leans forward to accommodate her. "Why aren't you together?"

"We're each other's best friend. We should have realized a relationship wouldn't have worked out sooner, but it gave us Iris."

Lucy looks into his eyes and could tell he was being sincere. He doesn't seem to be IN love with Lorena, so she mentally psyches herself up. She is gonna ask him out. "Garcia would you-"

"Lucy! There you are!"

Lucy and Flynn jump at the sound of Carol's voice. Lucy takes a step back and Flynn straightens up in his chair.

Carol is making a beeline for them, but is stopped by Amy and Jessica. Carol seems annoyed, but engages in conversation with them.

Dave, who was in the pool, swims up to where Flynn's perch is. "We have been watching you two all day and there is NO WAY we are letting your mother ruin this."

Lucy is grateful for their support, and a little embarrassed.

Flynn is just plain confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Go out with me!" Lucy finally gets out.

Flynn's brain shuts down. His jaw drops open in shock and he starts stuttering. Not at all in English. She liked him back?

"I think you broke him, Lucy."

Lucy glares at Dave, then looks up at Flynn. She is beginning to think she made a huge mistake, had overestimated his interest in her. She nervously pushes her sunglasses to the top of her head. "Garcia?"

He feels light as a feather as he hops down from his chair. Looking over to make sure Carol is still occupied talking to Amy and a woman who must be Jessica, he laughs as he watches Carol continue to try to make her way over to where he and Lucy are standing, except now, Amy had grabbed her by the arm and was pulling her into the club house.

He walks over to Lucy and takes her hands in his. "Are you asking me out, Lucy?" 

Lucy takes in a shaky breath as she realizes how large his hands were. She wants those hands on her. She wanted those hands to run all over her body. But first... "I am." She smiles, waiting.

"Are you sure that's wise?" he asks, his eyes glancing over to where Amy had dragged their mother away. "I don't want to get you in any trouble."

"Is that what's keeping you from asking me out?" Lucy says thoughtfully.

"Yes," he admits.

"Then we both have our answer."

Flynn pauses for a second... "Yes."

There is a low chorus of no's that echo through the women lounging by the pool.

They stare at one another in awe, both a little surprised that their usually awkward romantic attempts were successful. 

Lucy knows she needs to be kissing him immediately so she pulls on his hands to bring him closer to her. 

Flynn’s sharp intake of breath tells Lucy that he wants the same thing, and he bends his head closer to her, wanting her lips pressed to his. 

As they were about to kiss, an errant beach ball struck Flynn in the back. He stumbles into Lucy, who trips over his foot and falls backwards, right into the pool, pulling Flynn with her.

And as Lucy kicks around underwater, she can’t wait to make her way to the surface so she can kiss the living daylights out of him, hopefully without her mom, her sister nearly drowning, or a beach ball getting between them again.


	8. Grownups’ Night Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [#FlynnFriday imagine](https://twitter.com/thalia_msr/status/1256149230185570306): Garcia and Lucy try to have a quiet night in, but the twins return home from a sleepover full of sugar and decide to wreak havoc on their parents' night in.
> 
> #MurderTwins #GarcyEverAfter

"Do you hear that?" Lucy whispers as her fingers draw abstract lines on her husband's chest.

Garcia tenses up slightly, alert. "Hear what?"

Lucy chuckles and lays her palm flat over his heart. "Exactly."

He blinks a few times until understanding comes over his face. He settles back against the rocking chair and pulls Lucy back to his chest.

"I can't believe this is the first night we have to ourselves since the twins came," he murmurs into her hair and rocks them gently.

Lucy hums in agreement. "And I intend to relish every minute of it."

Garcia raises a brow, tilting his head so he can see her face. "Ah, we have plans, do we?"

She looks up with a glint in her eye. Her only reply is a quirk of her eyebrow and a roll of her hips, making him groan.

"And do these plans involve us getting out of this chair?" he asks tightly.

Lucy straightens up and puts her arms around his neck, a devious smile on her lips. "Maybe..." She drops her face to his for a lingering kiss.

They make out for about a minute when Lucy's phone chimes.

Lucy moves to answer it, but Garcia keeps her caged in his arms.

"Leave it," he says in between kisses.

She complies, and things quickly get heated. 

Still, her cell keeps ringing.

Lucy regretfully draws back from the delicious friction of Garcia's stubbled jaw on her neck. "It could be important."

He stops and drops his head on her chest with a grunt.

She gets up from her warm and solid perch to answer the phone. "It's Lisbeth," she whispers to Garcia before accepting the call.

His amorous ardor is momentarily forgotten as Garcia tries to decipher the one-sided conversation. As the women drift to small talk, he gives up and picks up his own phone to check it.

He notices that he also had a couple of missed calls from Lisbeth. He is worried that something might actually be wrong and he jumps out of the rocking chair when he hears Lucy gasp.

"What is it? What's wrong?'" he asks.

Lucy holds up a finger, "Are they okay?... And the other girl?... Okay. No, that's alright. Yes… Okay, I'll see you Monday." She hangs up.

Garcia waits for Lucy to say… SOMETHING, but she just stares off into the distance. "Lucy? Are the girls okay?"

"Maria got into a fight with one of the girls at the sleepover. Lisbeth said that she tried to figure out what happened, but none of the girls were talking. Alice and Maria wanted to come home, so Lis is having Toby drive them."

Garcia takes it all in for a moment and lets out a sigh. "Is Maria hurt?"

"No, Lis just said that the girls were upset and wanted to leave."

"And who's Toby again?" he asks. He wants them safe at ALL times.

"Lisbeth's oldest. You've met him when he came to pick up Rachel last week."

"Right, of course. I remember now." Garcia has absolutely no memory of this. But he _was_ pulling doubles last week and it was possible.

Lucy knows she and her husband probably have no more than fifteen minutes of alone time remaining before the twins arrived. With a sigh of regret, she strips her clothes off her body and raises one eyebrow at him, she asks, “Join me in the shower?”

Twenty minutes later, Garcia is watching his wife blow-dry her hair with a goofy smile on his face. "Can't we send the twins to stay with Jiya and Rufus? Or Amy?"

Lucy smiles at him through the mirror, "Are you not concerned about our children?"

"I'm more concerned with making future children. I think the girls would love a little brother. We can have Amy deal with parenting the twins tonight, while we get a head start on baby making."

Lucy gives him a look, "Garcia Flynn."

He rolls his eyes, "I know. Twins come first." He pouts and Lucy chuckles at him.

"How about we call out from work on Tuesday? The girls have soccer practice." She suggests.

"Scheduled sex. My favorite. Remember when I could just bend you over the couch?"

"You can do that Tuesday."

There was a knock at the door and Garcia stands up, "I'll hold you to that."

He walks downstairs and opens the front door. Alice and Maria are sipping on candy slushies from Sonic. A young man is standing behind them.

"Evening Mr. Flynn, I'm Toby. We met last week." The young man says as the girls rush inside.

"Mom hadn't served dinner yet, so I stopped and got the twins some food, I hope that was okay? Rachel loves going to Sonic when she's having a bad day."

Garcia narrows his eyes at Toby; the kid looks nervous for some reason. "As long as they ate that's fine."

Toby instantly relaxes. He had been afraid that he overstepped or had given the twins food they weren't supposed to have. "Cool. Um, I know it's not my place, sir, but I think Alice is getting picked on at school."

"What?" Garcia is once again on high alert.

"From what I could decipher from the conversations one of the girls that picked on her was the one that Maria put into a choke hold."

Garcia was torn between being extremely proud about Maria's fighting skills and protecting her sister and being upset that she was involved in a fight to begin with.

"Thank you, Toby. We'll be sure to talk to them."

As he watches the young man get into his car and drive away, Garcia ponders how he and Lucy would tackle this situation with the twins. Divide and conquer usually always works, but he'd like to be careful. The last thing he wanted to do is alienate the girls from their parents–or worse, from each other.

Even with seven years of raising the twins under their belts, they're still trying to figure this parenthood thing out. Garcia feels that _he_ never could.

In any case, the first step is to check in with his girls.

His ears are assaulted with shrieking laughter the minute he steps into the living area.

"The floor is lava!" Maria warns loudly at her twin, hopping to the ottoman.

When Garcia sees Alice looking to be calculating the distance between the couch she was on and the smooth glass of their coffee table, Garcia decides to take preventive action. Alice's estimates are way off from what Garcia sees as she launches into the air. So he steps in and catches her before she could land painfully on the edge of the table.

"Oof! What's this? I caught a flying monkey!" he calls out, swinging Alice about. It sort of helped (but not really) alleviate the pain in his eardrums as she let out a delighted squeal.

"Maria, help! The lava monster got me!" She wails.

Maria is suddenly on Garcia's back, trying her best to take him down. The three of them are giggling and having a ball. This is what Lucy walks in on and she smiles at the sight: her husband playing with their girls.

"Momma, help!!" Maria says as she uses all her weight to tug her father to the couch. He barely moves, but he takes a step in the direction she wanted him to go. " _Tata _is the lava monster!"

"There is only one way to defeat a lava monster." Lucy smiles at her family. "Kisses!"

Maria and Alice stop squirming. They then smile and assault Garcia with kisses. Lucy chuckles as the twins give him kisses all over his face and he screams as he is defeated and lands on the couch softly.

" _Tata_!! You're squishing me!!" Maria says, her arms and legs flailing about from behind Garcia.

"Did you hear something, Alice?"

" _Taaataaaaa_!" Maria complains, wriggling. "You're lying on top of me!"

Garcia gasps, turning to Alice with wide eyes. "There it is again! Are you trying to trick me?"

"No! It's 'ria!" she explains with a giggle.

"That's it, _Tata_ , you're gonna get it! TICKLE ATTACK!"

Deft little fingers worked in frenzy behind Garcia's ear, and he couldn't help but yelp and explode in laughter.

"Get him, Maria!"

"N-oooo! Stop!" He flails here and there, still mindful of crushing his little girl, as he tries to get away from those clever fingers.

Lucy would pay for telling the girls his one ticklish spot.

He stands, effectively getting away and plopping Alice next to Maria. The both of them are laughing their butts off. Garcia glares playfully at his wife.

"They have to be reminded to do their homework and chores, but my _one_ ticklish spot they refuse to forget."

Lucy tries to play innocent. "They are observant kids. To have figured that out."

Garcia makes a face, but doesn't comment. He looks back at the twins, who have calmed down a little. "Right. Would you girls like to tell us what happened at the sleep over? Or do we have to ground you?"

Garcia crouches down to the twins' eye level, but they still shrink into the couch. Maria is quick to recover.

"Marcy was being bad to Alice, calling her the 'R' word."

He looks to his wife for clarification, and she mouths 'retard' from behind their girls.

"Hm, that's not nice of her." He makes himself look like he was taking this very seriously, nodding in acknowledgment. "Was there a reason why Marcy called your sister that?"

Alice seems to have folded in on herself and tries to make herself as small as possible. Everyone notices and while her parents are extremely concerned, Maria leans towards her, as if to protect her.

"Alice didn't do anything wrong! She's just a lot smarter than Marcy is. We were in history class and Mrs. Bell was teaching us about President Lincoln. Alice knew all the answers because Momma taught us. Marcy got mad. She started being mean to Alice."

"Is Marcy bullying you, Alice?" Lucy softly asks.

Alice just shrugs, not looking up from her lap.

Garcia sits on the floor, his hand on Alice's knee.

"Hey, we're not mad," he says gently, ducking his head to meet his daughter's skittish gaze. "And you're not going to get into trouble by telling us."

" _Tata_ 's right," Lucy chimes in, joining her husband on the floor, looking at both her girls. "You could get into bigger trouble by not telling the truth, though."

"Or if you keep something from us," Garcia adds.

"Because we love both of you."

Alice and Maria meet each other's eyes, a silent conversation in their gaze.

"Alice," Lucy tries again. "What did Marcy do?"

Alice's bottom lip quivers a little before she looks up at her parents, her eyes watering.

Garcia has to will himself not to show his anger. What the hell did this Marcy do to his daughter??? He suddenly wishes he was a seven year old girl...

"She knocks my books out of my hands. She pushes me in the halls. She and her friends call me names during recess..." She then looks over at Maria. Her sister nods her head in encouragement, "She hit me one time."

"SHE PUT HER HANDS ON YOU?" Lucy explodes causing everyone to jump at the sheer volume of her voice.

Alice whimpers and Lucy immediately walks away to try and calm down. Garcia hugs the frightened child to him. "Momma isn't mad at you, _draga_."

Lucy walks back, regretting getting so angry. "Oh, sweet girl, I'm sorry I scared you!" Her arms go around both of them.

Garcia frees his arm to place it around Lucy and draws her closer. Lucy doesn't stop whispering assurances to her little girl, never stopping petting her hair.

He maneuvers himself to place Lucy on his left and Alice in his lap. He offers his hand to Maria, who is looking on longingly. He pulls her to him, and she curls up against his right side.

"Is that why you picked a fight with Marcy, _mali vatromet _?" Garcia asks into Maria's hair.

Said little firecracker looks up at her father with a gasp. "How did you know?" she asks with wide eyes. Lucy mirrors her daughter's look, only hers are more out of surprise than apprehension.

"Someone saw you fighting with her and told me about it." He jostles her gently when he notices Maria's shoulders start to wilt. "Hey. Like we told you: you're not getting into trouble, unless either of you started it, or someone got really hurt.

"It's really very important that you are both honest with us.”

" _Tata_ 's right, Maria," Lucy pipes up, touching her hand. "Because when you're honest, you earn someone's trust. And trust is so valuable."

"It's more expensive than five dollars?" Alice inquires softly.

Garcia snickers. "It's hundreds, thousand times more expensive than five dollars. So, can you do that, _maleni _ ?" He makes sure to look at both girls. "Can you both be honest to Mama and _Tata_?"

The girls look at each other and nod their heads. They then settle back into their parents’ embrace. All is quiet for a few moments, but something nags at the back of Garcia's mind.

"Alice, _draga_?"

Her green eyes look up at him, "Yes, _Tata_?"

"When Marcy is picking on you, why don't you fight back?"

Lucy smacks his shoulder for suggesting their innocent child do such a thing, "Garcia! She shouldn't be fighting at all."

Garcia gives a wounded look, "Of course not, _but_ she _does_ know how to defend herself. I'm curious why she hasn't."

Lucy is wondering that as well, but didn't want to question her daughter on it. She must have a good reason.

Maria then starts laughing and Alice looks sheepish. "Go on. Tell them!" Maria nudges her sister.

"I don't want to hurt her. We know judo and she doesn't. I could take her out if I wanted to."

Lucy bursts out laughing at their little girl's explanation. Garcia is trying to keep the smile off his face. "Well… she's definitely your daughter." Lucy leans forward and presses a kiss to all of them.

"What am I going to do with you three?"

"Did we earn a thousand trusts?" Alice asks.

Lucy gapes. "Uh, well, I'd say a couple hundred..."

Maria bounces excitedly. "Cool! Does that mean we get ice cream, then?"

Garcia blinks at their little expectant faces. Recovering, he says, "That would be up to Mama."

As one, they turn their eyes to Lucy, their gazes wide and pathetic. She had never felt more betrayed. 

Lucy gives her husband a look, but his green eyes just gets sadder the longer she takes to answer. She huffs out a sigh, "Fiiiiine."

The three green eyed Flynns cheer and high-five each other. Lucy rolls her eyes, but a smile is forming on her lips. "I swear, you three..."

The twins can be a handful, and with their father wrapped around their little finger and roped into their shenanigans, there's no telling them no.

Could she ever say no to a constantly smiling, dorky Garcia Flynn? Who constantly doted on their daughters even as he still looks at her as if she hung the moon? 

No. She will never have it any other way.


	9. Burgundy Time Bandit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [#FlynnFriday imagine](https://twitter.com/thalia_msr/status/1261157659413303296): Lucy starts a YouTube series based around history after Rittenhouse is defeated. After two years one commenter continues to challenge and question her. She finally decides it's time to meet this so-called heckler. Imagine her surprise to find someone she knows.

"Do. Not. Feed. The. Trolls."

Rufus and Jiya could not emphasize this point enough. And now, she was starting to appreciate why.

She sat back and carefully rubbed her eyes. Never in her wildest imagination did she think that maintaining a YouTube channel could be this taxing.

She was lucky that she had the couple to help her out on the technical logistics of practically everything that she needed to get set up and running. All Lucy needed was to supply the content. And...

"But it's still good to interact with your subscribers to please the almighty algorithm," Jiya had added with a roll of her eyes.

"But I don't understand! You just emphatically said to not feed the trolls, and yet I have to interact with them?"

Jiya had then explained internet trolling to Lucy as if she was a toddler. Which, well, a little offending to her intelligence; then again, the internet as a whole boggles her even at the best of times.

Presently, she was staring dully at her inbox, a barrage of comments and interactions in reaction to her latest upload.

One username caught her eye. Here they are again, like clockwork.

Her finger hovered over the screen where the message was, wondering what fresh hell has this person brought her now.

Spartycuss. The bane of her YouTube existence. He or she was an enigma. At first their questions and comments seemed innocent enough, history related. But after her fourth video they became more troll-like. Asking where she got her outfits from, how did she know how Abraham Lincoln smelled. It wasn't like she could post about Rittenhouse or time travel, so she had ignored it at first.

Until they started questioning her abilities as a historian. Questioning her facts and pointing out inconveniences.

She had one upped them during an argument over JFK. They truly believed the 35th President was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Which was just not true at all. You didn't even need to have a degree to know that Kennedy was assassinated in Austin, Texas. This person clearly wasn't a fan of Google.

Lucy decided to ignore it, for now, and answer her  _ real  _ fans and not her critics...Although she couldn't really call Spartycuss a critic either. They would always be first in line to call out another commenter if they tried to bash her videos.

She hated that she liked them going after her 'haters'.

She decided to skip Spartycuss for now and check out her other usuals for their comments.

She loved getting genuinely thought-out responses. Aside from Jiya and Rufus, the only other people she sees are Wyatt, Connor, and Denise.

Almost two years after Rittenhouse was truly taken down,

Lucy still felt leery about even setting a foot outside her home–or even seeing glimpses of life outside. She was being ridiculous, she knew. But they understood it, especially Denise and Wyatt. Being on constant alert for danger can be hard to shake off.

Flynn would know about that, too.

She sighed. The pang in her chest at the reminder wasn't as paralyzing as the first time when he... The pain was still there, but Lucy was getting better at it.

Tears fell unbidden, and she quickly wiped them away.  _ 'Or at least, I think I was. Damn it, Flynn. _ '

She still had nightmares about that mission. About leaving him behind in the warehouse. About the explosion. A fresh wave of tears came and she took a shaky breath.

She needed a distraction. This was why Jiya and Rufus had set up this account for her. To distract her. To keep her sane. To keep her from falling into a bottle. She was a year sober and she was damn proud of herself.

Another deep breath. Spartycuss. They always annoyed her to the point of distraction. She clicked on the message and began reading what was no doubt criticism on her video.

_ 'How do you know he was tall? Was he handsome too?' _

She rolled her eyes with a groan. Looked like her eyes will be strained from that alone.  _ Here we go. _

Of course, this spawned a discourse of nonsense under the thread, from the pendantic to just words cobbled together under influence, or something. 

She was tempted to fire off a reply that yes, Robert Todd Lincoln was devastatingly gorgeous and kind and gracious, etc. etc. Then her eyes drifted to the Post-It of "DON'T EVER FEED THE TROLLS!  **EVER** " Rufus had thoughtfully tacked on top of her monitor. She deleted her drafted response and moved on to another comment instead.

She couldn't help but chuckle at the childish back-and-forth that went on for about twenty threads from Spartycuss' comment. How these people keep up or have the time to devote to this nonsense was beyond her. This thread entertained her for a few minutes, though, at Spartycuss' expense. It only served them right. 

Jiya and Rufus did warn her that her videos could bring out any and all types of crazies online. But they went on to assure her that this is a good indicator, too, as proof of interest in her content. And 50,000-some subscribers isn't a number to sneeze at.

Her good mood restored, Lucy decided to check out other more intelligent feedback.

She sat down the next day and worked on her next video. She decided to do an event she hadn't actually visited. It stretched her research muscles which were getting a little rusty since time travel was a thing she was able to do.

Plus, it gave her an excuse to get close to two people and make sure they were doing okay.

Flynn died in that explosion, and Lucy hoped he knew his actions would indeed stop Rittenhouse and save everyone.

"Today we're going to talk about some badass ladies known as Night Witches. They were Russian bomber pilots who would turn their engines off and glide through the air in the dead of night. I recently got to sit down with the granddaughter of one of a Night Witch and, oh boy, did she have some stories to tell."

In this new timeline, Flynn had disappeared on Lorena and Iris in 2014 instead of them being murdered. Denise had him declared dead after that last mission, because he did... die.

They had a lovely, moving funeral for him. They didn't have a body, but they placed a marker. Lucy watched from afar because the team was still unsure at the time if there was any Rittenhouse left.

One of the few times she left her house was to visit it, remind him that he did it, he saved them, he was a good man and she missed him... so much...

She remembered Flynn telling her about the Night Witches, and that was a good excuse to check in on Lorena and Iris under the guise of her YouTube channel. They were doing good. They missed him, of course, but they knew he'd want them to move on and be happy.

He'd want Lucy to move on and be happy too. She'd get there... eventually...

Until then... she needed to finish this video and get it posted.

Lucy didn't think she'd get emotional editing a video, but she did.

As she watched the raw footage of her conversation with Lorena, she felt the tears burn the back of her eyes once again. But, unlike during the interview, she let them flow freely. She vividly recalled their idle chatter after their formal interview, honoring Lorena's wishes to stop the recording once they finished the topic of Lucy's video.

And, of course, their chatter wandered to the common man in their life. Lorena talked about the life she shared with the man she married, and Lucy talked about her part in Garcia's life during part of his 'missing years'. Their talk stretched far longer than her intended interview until Iris had arrived from school. Both women had composed themselves before facing the youngster, and Lucy stayed at their invitation to dinner before actually leaving.

Lorena was–is, a remarkable woman. Iris could never ask for a better role model. If only Flynn could see her now...

"Stop, stop," she blurted, wiping at the tears. She would not be able to finish at this rate. But she wanted to get this video out so badly–not for the numbers, but it... it was part of a legacy of great women, and their equally fascinating descendants. In a way, she owed it to Flynn.

She took a deep breath, realizing she was going back down that spiral again. She fired a quick text to Jiya, asking for her help in editing, before closing her video editor and deciding to flagellate herself once more with the comments from her last video.

"Do not feed the trolls," she muttered to herself as she scrolled through.

There were actually several good comments, saying thank you, they didn't know any of this, it helped them, or their kid, pass a class. It was actually pretty nice.

Then she ran across a message that accused her of being a fraud. Didn't question her methods or research, just flat out said she didn't know what she was talking about. And they used some not very nice words to boot.

Lucy was livid. She always provided sources. Even had Jiya teach her how to put them on screen.

Clicking on the conversation thread, she was about to go off on this character... but it seemed like someone had beaten her to it.

Spartycuss, her biggest troll, had ripped into the guy. There was some back and forth, Spartycuss staunchly defending her. Another commenter wrote, "Hello, 911, I've just witnessed a murder."

Lucy laughed at that, smiling at all the things Spartycuss had said about her. About how Lucy Preston understood history like no one else, had such a firm grasp of was like she lived it.

If Spartycuss only knew... 

Lucy breathed in and held it for a few seconds. Calming herself. Spartycuss defended her, so the least she could do was respond to the comments they posted. So she did, but instead of rising to the challenge, she instead answered their questions as clinically as she could and ignored all of the smartass comments.

With that done she logged off. She had skipped breakfast in favor of editing her video and she was starving.

"Look who decided to grace us with her presence." Amy teased as she handed her sister a cup of fresh coffee. Amy lifted her phone and spoke into it like a microphone, "YouTube sensation Professor Flynn joins us for lunch today. Professor, how are you feeling on this beautiful afternoon?"

She holds her phone in Lucy's face, but Lucy playfully smacks her hand away. "I did not come down here to be annoyed by you."

She was getting better at it now, seeing Amy around the house without freaking out or melting down. Of course, Lucy had to tell Amy the truth about time travel. She had talked it out with the team first, and Denise hadn't seen the harm in telling Amy the truth. Lucy was glad; she didn't think she could carry on the pretense that everything was normal.

Amy pussyfooted around Lucy for about a year, but started to see that this Lucy was still her sister at the core. But, Amy being Amy, she bounced back to be Lucy's loving, brilliant and sometimes annoying little sister.

"Can I help it that I find it hilarious that you're a more famous internet sensation than I am? And to think you look down on my podcast..."

"You, uh, didn't say it was fun, and that you could actually earn from it." Lucy gave her a self-deprecating shrug.

"Speaking of which." Amy leaned forward as she munched on her toast. "Any chance I could do a guest spot in one of your videos? I need to promote my podcast more."

Lucy blinked, pondering her words over her coffee. "I don't see why not." She wasn't sure what the topic would shape up to be, but they could hammer it out.

"Any chance you know how to edit videos?" she asked.

"Shouldn't be that hard, depending on the software you're using." Amy answered with a shrug. "I'm thinking there's not a lot of difference from editing audio."

"It's pretty easy, I just..." Lucy tried to swallow the lump in her throat and took a sip of her coffee. She cleared her throat and with watery eyes, looked at her sister. "I can't do this one."

Amy has seen this look on her many times before. It happened whenever she was thinking about  _ him _ . "This probably brought back a lot of feelings, huh? Like how in love you are with Garcia Flynn."

Lucy scoffed softly at Amy's words. "He's gone Amy. I refuse to be in love with a ghost." Lucy turned towards the refrigerator to busy herself with making a sandwich. She was lying, of course. She was in love with the ghost of him. And she didn't think she'd be getting over him anytime soon.

She couldn't even visit his 'grave' without breaking down completely. She just wanted to be wrapped in his arms again. To hear his heartbeat in her ear.

Amy took pity on her sister and helped her finish editing. She knew Lucy was still in love with Flynn no matter how much she denied it. She'd never move on if she didn't accept that she had to. Amy had no idea how to help her sister with that part.

It was definitely something Amy was going to have to put a lot of thought into.

They finished editing and sat down to watch it complete from end to end. It wasn't as hard on Lucy, not having to see the raw footage and also spending time talking about other Night Witches.

"Good to go?" Amy asked.

"Yeah." Lucy nodded, mentally saying that this one was for Flynn.

Amy stood from the computer chair and placed a kiss on the crown of Lucy's head. "Post it when you're ready. I'll be downstairs preparing dinner. It's Sunday, after all."

Lucy sighed. Shit. She had forgotten what day it was. Ever since Rittenhouse was defeated she and the rest of the team had decided to stay in touch as much as they could. So they settled for Sunday dinners at Lucy's house.Mostly because she was the only one with a big enough dining table. And guest rooms in case they went overboard with wine.

They had a routine. She and Amy would make dinner. Jiya and Rufus would bring dessert. Wyatt would bring the drinks. Denise and Connor would join them sometimes, but Denise had a family and Connor was busy restoring his good name and rebranding his business. Today would just be the core team.

Lucy often wondered what Flynn's role in Sunday dinners would be. If he'd bring movies for them to watch or if he'd arrive early to help cook. Or would he stay late to help with the clean up?

She shook herself from her thoughts.  _ 'Nope. Not doing this.' _ She berated herself and focused on her laptop.

Taking a deep breath, Lucy uploaded the finished video. She closed her laptop and decided to just not think about Flynn or what ifs for at least after dinner. She could start small like that?

She got downstairs in time to greet Rufus and Jiya.

"I just saw you posted a new video," Jiya said, pointing to her phone.

"Yes, but enough about that." Lucy could do this. "What sweet things have you brought today?"

They shared a laugh and Jiya snuck her a look at the decadent cheesecake.

Wyatt arrived and Amy announced the food was ready. They sat around the table and caught up, like they usually did. Lucy was so glad that her friends got to live such amazing lives with joy and happiness. They all deserved it after everything they had gone through.

Flynn deserved it too...

She wasn't going to dwell on that, nope. Jiya was telling her about the new company she was launching with Rufus. It sounded pretty grand.

"Hey, Professor," Rufus called over to her, waving his phone. "Your latest video seems to be your most popular yet."

"Badass female bomber pilots," Amy said with a duh on the end.

Lucy decided to give it a check and it indeed was gaining likes and views a bit faster than usual. Lots of comments, too.

She took a breath and started to scroll through and see what Spartycuss had to say  _ this time _ .

Only Spartycuss hadn't commented yet. He was usually one of the first, like he had her on his alerts.

Oh well, it had only been a couple of hours. She was sure they would pop up later.

Except, they didn't. Three days later and Lucy still hadn't received a comment from Spartycuss. They hadn't even jumped in to defend her against the more annoying trolls regarding her legitimacy as a historian.

Lucy wondered if they were okay. She wouldn't admit it, but she had grown accustomed to reading their comments. It was the one constant in her life besides the videos themselves. But them not commenting was a good thing, right? No trolling meant no annoyance or stress...Then why did Lucy feel like she had lost a friend regarding this particular video?

Lucy decided to push it from her mind. But then she had turned her thoughts to Flynn and  _ that  _ was worse than focusing on an internet troll.

"I'm gonna set up a Tumblr account for you." Jiya had said four days after her video was posted.

Lucy was confused and was thinking about how Spartycuss still hasn't commented on her video. "What? You mean that place you go to nerd out over things?"

Jiya rolled her eyes, "Tumblr  _ is  _ an acquired taste…  _ but  _ it's also home to so many fandoms! I randomly looked up your YouTube name on it. You have quite the following on it. I didn't venture too far, but you definitely have hashtags."

Lucy had no idea what that meant and her face showed it. "Cool."

"How has Amy not rubbed off on you yet? She understands me."

Lucy just smiled and playfully rolled her eyes at her. "One of us has to be normal. And explain to me again why I need to have another social media platform?"

Jiya turned away from the laptop to Lucy, eyes wide. She blinked away her disbelief, as if realizing who she was talking to.

"You are practically a YouTube celebrity! Even us lowly internet denizens have AT LEAST two social media accounts." She paused. "You DO have at least a Facebook account, right?"

"Which I haven't posted on in ten years?" Lucy supplied with a wince.

Jiya gaped. "That's it. You need a social media manager," she declared. "And a Tumblr account. You can engage with your subscribers there. Or, have a place where you can vent or check out Real Housewives crap other people post."

She wiggled her eyebrows. Lucy felt torn.

"Look. The bottom line is, it puts you and your channel out there for more subscribers," Jiya pointed out. "And there are some upsides with connecting with people behind the protection of anonymity. No judgment–well, not the kind that we encounter in real life, anyway, and to certain extent–and no real-life expectations. You can be your craziest, quirky, truthful self."

Be yourself. No judgment. No denial of an opportunity because of the perceived biases against your gender.

"Okay!" Lucy shrugged with a carefree grin. "How do we start?"

Jiya informed her that she needed a Tumblr handle.

"And nooo, lucypreston is... eh. And it's taken!" she hastily added.

Lucy sighed, tapping her chin in thought. "Uhhh... Down with History?"

Jiya cocked a brow. "Feeling like an anarchist, are we?" Her lips twitched in approval.

"What? No! I meant I'm 'down with history'! You know, always down to talk about key moments and..."

She trailed off at Jiya's cackling. "Of course, I know. You're you," she added, as if that explained everything. Which... she supposed it did?

It was Jiya's turn to look contemplative. "'Houdini's Burgundy Handcuffs'?"

Lucy was horrified. "W-what? WHY would anyone come up with a page name like that?"

Jiya turned back to type for a few seconds. "Because someone did, and it looks like I wasn't the first one who thought of it."

Lucy was both intrigued and horrified. How many fans of Houdini are on that site and have... other interests related to the escape artist?

Jiya crossed her arms. "Fine, hit me with your other ideas."

"Okay... Time Traveling Historian.

"Boring! And Denise would have it shut down just like that." Jiya snapped her fingers.

"Fine!" Lucy huffed. "History In Time."

Jiya made a gagging sound.

"You think them up, then!" Lucy threw up her hands.

"Yetting Banana."

"W-What?" Lucy was thrown by the weird phrase, laughing.

"Uh... Yeet History?"

"I heard you, but I think only half of what you said was English."

"Lucy. It doesn't have to be all about your channel. Like I said, the blog topic could be about anything you want it to be!"

Lucy's gaze was distant as she focused inward. Anything...

"Burgundy Time Bandit?"

Both Jiya's eyebrows shot up. "Where did that come from?"

Lucy tried for a casual shrug. "Nothing. It just came to me."

Jiya repeated the phrase under her breath, and typed it in the empty field. "It's obscure enough. And it kinda... I dunno, feels familiar, but..." she waved it off and continued working.

"There!" She faced Lucy after a few minutes. "I present to you, your new hellsite page! Burgundy Time Bandit!" She completed her presentation with jazz hands.

Lucy ran it through her head. A little lengthy, but she liked it. Not like anyone would cotton on to the reference…

Lucy decided that her next video would be about Bonnie and Clyde since she was going to reveal her Burgundy Time Bandit account.

One, because they were bandits, and two, the awkwardness between her and Wyatt on that mission was a good distraction from a certain... burgundy wearing time bandit.

She got it all cut together herself this time and posted it the following Sunday per her usual schedule. It was early yet, the team not arriving for a couple more hours. 

Lucy sat down in a big comfy chair with a cup of tea, a book, and her phone. Comments started to come in and Lucy chided herself for looking for Spartycuss. He never did comment on the Night Witches post. She supposed that was for the better as that one had been close to her heart. Too many emotions.

The fifth comment came in, and it was Spartycuss.

"What happened to the key Clyde had of Ford's?" Spartycuss asked, another random detailed question, per usual. "How come no one could identify the two people who helped them escape?"

The post just kept going, all the pokes at her post that annoyed her but also made her want to be better. It was an aggravating feeling.

The last comment though made her tilt her head slightly.

"Why burgundy?"

Lucy would be lying if she said seeing his post didn't make her happy. She was glad they were okay. Then the annoyance came at his hounding questions about things she  _ shouldn’t  _ be able to explain, but knew she could.

It was the last question, though, that had her hitting the reply button. She wanted to explain that it was for a friend, but Flynn was more than that. He was her partner. Her protector. She knew she was his. And burgundy was their color.

_ ‘Someone very close to me passed away and burgundy was our favorite color.’ _ She hit send.

Minutes after she posted her comment, her phone blew up. The first responses varied from theories about the key, or questioning its actual existence, or theories about the famous duo's other companions. There were some who expressed their sympathies for her, commenting that it was a sweet gesture. There were some hugging face emoticons ( _ I'm sorry,  _ **_emojis_ ** , she said to Jiya protesting in her head) as comments instead of words, which she found cute.

But, scrolling down the replies, skipping the random nonsense and usual criticism, her brow furrowed. Huh.

Spartycuss almost always made it a point to have the last words on the subject. They didn't even call Lucy out for not commenting on the other details they pointed out.

Lucy shook her head, mentally chastising herself. Why did she care for the comment of one person anyway, when there were other people who were gracious and polite and just as intuitive with their feedback?

"I need to go out more," she said aloud, just as Amy walked into the room and gave her an odd look.

"Is my sister finally gonna go out on a date?" She asked, a smile forming.

Lucy wasn't sure if Amy was disbelieving, taunting, or happy for her. She settled on all of the above.

"I mean... I think I need to socialize more, meet new friends?"

"O-kay." Amy settled on an adjacent couch. "What brought this about?"

She gestured at her phone. "I think I'm getting addicted.”

Amy nodded in understanding. "Fame can do that to you."

Lucy rolled her eyes at the jab. "It's not that. I'm getting a little too fixated on the comments. Well, one commenter," she amended.

Amy cocked a curious brow. "Is he cute?"

"The Spartacus avatar is, I'm not even sure if it's a guy." Lucy gave pause, trying to recall past comments. "Come to think of it, I think Spartycuss IS a guy."

"What makes you say that?" Amy seemed genuinely curious.

"I dunno. The language pattern feels the same as any male educator I've encountered."

The team showed up for Sunday lunch.

Wyatt asked her how things were going on her videos and was going to be a quick answer turned into a half hour of semi-ranting about Spartycuss.

Jiya cleared her throat. "You know, I could back the site and get the guy’s name and location."

"Jiya!" Lucy didn't doubt she could do that, just questioned why the woman would suggest it.

"I'm not saying confront the guy," Jiya clarified. "But maybe he  **is** a professor. If you knew, then you would know better how to deal with him."

"It's a violation of his privacy." Lucy decided, even if something in the back of her mind thought it was a really good idea, so long as she made sure to indeed not use the knowledge directly against him, and...

She tried to forget the idea and focus on her next video. But she couldn't really do that either. Thoughts of Flynn were even more prominent.

Grabbing her bag, she ventured out of the house for the first time in a couple of weeks.

She found herself at the cemetery, standing in front of Flynn's grave marker.

She laughed at herself. "I did something silly, but I think you'll find it funny..."

"So there's this guy–and it's not what you think," she interrupted herself, imagining how Flynn would have reacted to the news. "Wait. Let me start from the beginning."

She began to tell how she had her crisis after they defeated Rittenhouse, trying to get back to the normal world. How Rufus commented in jest that Lucy could totally do a YouTube channel about history in this new timeline. How that idea haunted her until she actually bit the bullet and did it, and never expected it to be as big as it is now.

"So, now we get to this guy–I  _ assume  _ he was, being how anal-retentive he could be with details." She paused. "Don't roll your eyes at me. You know I know what I'm talking about. He  _ always  _ makes it a point to either nitpick or be a nuisance. While on one hand he sounds like he knows his stuff. On the other, he can be so childish and asinine, I just want to-" she put her hand out as if strangling Spartycuss' throat.

When the silence began to linger, she bravely continued. "I don't get this guy. When other commenters are going too far, just being plain jackasses, he steps in and actually... stands up for me against these haters. Rufus said to not feed the trolls, so I just let him do whatever he does.

"And... I don't know why I tack onto this person. It's not like he's ever tried to talk to me outside of the topic of my videos. But I find myself being... drawn to him."

When she began talking, she was looking down on his marker. When she was finished, she found herself leaning against it, just as she would when they were sitting in his cot in the bunker, shoulder to shoulder and relishing each other's company.

"It isn't the same," she murmured, leaning her head against the cold slab and wishing it was a warm shoulder, and the breeze picking up her loose hair instead be fingers gently brushing it away from her face. "But it's all I've got right now."

She mentally shook herself and sat upright. "Oh, and Jiya talked me into getting a Tumblr site... It's where weird and crazy people hang out. Don't ask.

"Why do it, anyway?" she answered the question Flynn would have posed, shrugging helplessly. "Because, what else is there to things? I mean, I've tried following the path set for me, only to find it tainted and vile. We've stopped an evil cult from ruining history, everything is back to some semblance of normal, but..." The war left her fractured, broken.

"It didn't feel like a victory," she whispered, tracing the inscriptions.

_ Garcia Flynn _

_ Father. Husband. Hero. _

Her chest tightened. Flynn was much more than a hero to her.

"And I needed... I needed..." She heaved a breath, then two. "I don't know what I need or how to go on." She leaned her forehead against the rough surface. "And I'm just trying to find my place again, but I feel lost."

Tears slipped down her face and Lucy wished more than anything that he was alive. She wanted to hear what smart-ass comments he had regarding her new hobby and his unconditional support, no matter how silly he might find it. She just wanted him.

Her phone buzzing in her pocket jolted her from her thoughts. It was a notification, informing her that she had received more comments on her video. She clicked on it and realized that Spartycuss had sent a response back,

_ 'I am deeply sorry about your friend. Is it the same person you named your channel after?  _

_ You don't have to answer that, of course. But if it is, then this Flynn person must have been really special. I understand what it's like to lose people closest to you. I apologize if I'd made you uncomfortable by sharing.' _

Lucy smiled at that. It was something Flynn would say. She then looked from her phone to the marker. "’This your way of telling me Spartycuss isn't such a bad guy?" She gave a soft chuckle before kissing her fingers and placing them on his name.

"Everyone misses you, Garcia. I wish things ended differently. You deserve to be here."

The next day, Lucy got to work on her next post. Her research was meticulous as always. Though she'd been considering doing a post on this particular historical figure for some time.

"Hey everyone, I just wanted to say thank you for your kind words regarding my friend. They, um, they shared my love of history and really brought out the best in me. So, today, I would like to dedicate this post to them by telling you all about their favorite historical figure: Nikola Tesla.

"We'll discuss his inventions, how he impacted the world. And as for Edison and a certain car manufacturer that co-opted his name, well, as my friend would say, they are some of history's greatest dicks."

Lucy went on and spoke passionately about the inventor. She had Rufus as her guest, explaining the technical side of things. He started to geek out and they had to make sure to cut out the scene where Rufus said, "We should totally take the Lifeboat to Wardenclyffe."

When Sunday came around, her final touch on editing was to add a little note at the end: _ Dedicated to the Burgundy Time Bandit. _

Lucy hit post and went downstairs. She had promised Amy she would help with some reorganizing before the team showed up. It seemed like everyone was going to make it, scheduling falling neatly in place.

After two hours of playing musical chairs, Lucy grabbed her phone to see what Spartycuss had to say. She laughed at herself for being so silly about a commenter, getting a little rush when she saw that they had posted, and this time it was so long it had to READ MORE.

Lucy went into the comment and started to read. 

And, as Rufus would have aptly put it, it seemed like Spartycuss had a nerdgasm.

For some reason, she found herself reading the comment in Flynn's voice. She suppressed a smile.

In Spartycuss' comment, he went on to say how Tesla was terribly underrated, and 100000000% agreed that Edison was an A+ dick. That he was so happy to see Tesla finally getting the recognition he deserved.

Then, he went on to share things about the inventor that even Lucy never even heard about. Huh. He was either a giant science nerd, a huge Tesla fanboy, or had lived where the inventor was.

She showed Spartycuss' comment to Rufus, who raised his eyebrows. "Huh. Yeah, I kinda remember that now," he admitted. "I did a pilgrimage to his birthplace in Smiljan in my freshman year. That's when I learned that Tesla had an older brother, who died when he was young. He claimed he was intellectually superior to him. But that could be his little 7-year-old self talking then," he added with a shrug.

He nodded towards Lucy's phone. "That guy sure knows a lot about Tesla. Would be nice to pick his brain about him..."

"Maybe..." Lucy shrugged absentmindedly. Could Spartycuss be Croatian? She wondered as the conversations continued around her.

"Lucy, have you been on Tumblr at all since I set up your account?" Jiya asked, excitedly.

Lucy blushed, "Er, no, not really."

Jiya gave a slight pout at her confession.

"Lucy's been too busy obsessing over her crush on Spartycuss." Amy teased.

"I do NOT have a crush on Spartycuss… He is annoying. I don't even know if he IS a he."

"Would it even matter?" Wyatt asked, followed up with, "Bow chicka wow wow."

Four separate dinner rolls got thrown at Wyatt. He managed to catch two, immediately taking a bite.

Denise cleared her throat. "What do we know about Lucy's number one fan?"

Lucy knew that tone of voice, the woman was being serious and protective. "Just that they're very well versed in history, especially Tesla. They're a pain in the butt, but never mean. In fact, they have defended me, a lot. And I think they're a he."

"They haven't tried to get any personal information from you?" Denise asked. "Like where you live, where you shop or bank?"

"No, nothing like that."

Wyatt frowned. "Are you worried he might be Rittenhouse?"

"I thought they were all gone," Amy said quickly.

"We believe so, yes." Denise was thinking. "But I don't like taking chances. Even if they aren't Rittenhouse, one can never be too careful with online personalities."

"Tumblr is full of weirdos," Jiya agreed. "But I think this Spartycuss is alright. He doesn't give me the creep vibe, and trust me, I know one when I see one."

"And so do I," Lucy said, crossing her arms.

Rufus coughed the word, "Wyatt."

"Hey!"

"How do you think I learned?" Lucy pointed out.

Wyatt bowed his head in shame and went back to eating his other dinner roll.

"Look," Lucy got everyone's attention. "I can handle Spartycuss. If he starts crossing a line, I'll deal with it or call for backup. And that's final." 

They all settled in, with the Preston sisters taking each end of the long table: Rufus, Jiya and Wyatt on Lucy's right; Denise and Connor to her left.

With everyone there, Lucy's eyes drifted to the sole empty seat beside Connor, and her smile faltered.

She must have been staring too long, as she realized the friendly chatter around her quieted down, and she noticed that everybody couldn't meet her eyes–except Denise and Amy, their gazes understanding and supportive.

Clearing her throat, she announced. "Well, since Connor finally took time off his very busy schedule to grace us with his presence and brought a nice vintage tonight to make up for his previous absences." She raised her glass at him.

"Here, here."

He acknowledged the toast with an incline of his head and a smirk.

The subject of Lucy's favorite YouTube troll was dropped in favor of enjoying the company of her entire team. They got caught up with Connor's recent exploits.

"If I learn you're building a Mothership 2.0, Connor, so help me," Denise threatened with no real heat, her eyes twinkling.

Connor was clutching his imaginary pearls. "Agent Christopher!" he gasped. "I would never!"

Lucy joined in the teasing, and pointedly trying not to let her eyes wander to the vacant chair again.

Warmed by the wine and her company that night, Lucy got herself ready for bed.

Her mind wouldn't let her rest, however, as recollections of the earlier conversation about Spartycuss floated to the forefront of her mind.

Could Denise's hunch be correct? Was Spartycuss playing the long con, just waiting for an opening to strike?

Her thoughts rebelled against the thought he could be Rittenhouse all along. Because if he was, wouldn't it serve him better to ingratiate himself to her, instead of being unpredictable and polarizing?

But there was something niggling at her–a thought, a feeling–that eluded her grasp every time she tried to hone in on it...

She woke with a start, the vision of a gladiator wearing Flynn's face melting away with the coming of the late morning light.

She scrubbed her face with one hand. Puffing out an annoyed sigh, she pawed at her bedside table for her phone and sent out a quick email to Rufus and Jiya, knowing they likely won't entertain any text or calls at this hour.

_ 'Go ahead and look in on Sparty, lmk what you find.' _

Lucy tossed and turned the rest of the night. Images of Flynn filled her dreams. Memories of different missions mixed with simple things he did around the bunker or the farmhouse they had lived in the last few months leading up to their victory.

She finally gave up on sleep around six in the morning and quietly walked downstairs to the kitchen. Wyatt was barefoot and making coffee. He had a little too much of Connor's wine and stayed the night.

"You're up early." He commented as he grabbed another mug to fill.

"Couldn't sleep. How was your night?"

He shrugged, "Eh. Amy left me some Tylenol, so not too bad. Your sister is a Godsend."

Lucy glared at him. "Hey, don't get any ideas!"

Wyatt just smiled at her and passed her a mug, "Even if I wanted to, no one would date me Lucy. I'm damaged goods, remember?"

Lucy felt a little guilty. She was the one who had told him that in a fit of rage, not long after he had confessed his love to her. She remembered how hurt and broken he had looked, but she needed him to understand that she was over him. That her heart belonged to someone else.

She remembered how it had practically destroyed their relationship and they didn't speak to each other at all. She smiled at the memory of Flynn forcing them to talk because he was annoyed with their behavior on missions.

She took a sip of the coffee and gasped at the taste, "Is this–"

"Flynn's brew, yeah. Took me forever to find it. His coffee always made you feel better. I brought a box over last month, you haven't touched it."

Lucy was touched by his thoughtfulness. "Amy is always up before me and makes a pot."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, drinking their coffee.

"Are you gonna do anything about your internet crush?" He smirked at her.

Lucy playfully rolled her eyes, "It's not a crush. But I asked Rufus and Jiya to look into it. Make sure it's safe to communicate with him."

"Unconventional, but at least you're putting yourself out there."

"I'm not trying to DATE him, Wyatt."

"Who aren't you trying to date?" Amy breezed into the room looking way too chipper at 7am.

"The YouTube guy." Wyatt answered.

"Oh, Spartycuss? Please, I'm sure all the comments is just nerd foreplay to them."

"AMY!"

Lucy's phone rang, she grabbed it from the counter so she could ignore her annoying sister.

"Hey," Jiya was on the other end, "so I got your message and looked into Spartycuss for you."

"Okay?" Lucy was a bit wary about the tone in Jiya's voice.

"His IP was blocked, which, you know, isn't a problem for me, but is a bit questionable," Jiya explained. Lucy was pretty sure most people didn't know how to block their IP, she certainly didn't. "I got through and pulled all the details but there is no name on the account, nothing."

"Is this as dodgy as it sounds?" Lucy asked.

"Depends, I mean, he could be a computer programmer like myself, or someone who likes his privacy, or, yeah, a shady Rittenhouse agent out to get you."

Well, two out of three of those options were't bad. "Did you find anything about Spartycuss, one way or another?"

"I did discover that the IP is linked to a Tumblr account which actually predates yours," Jiya told her. "So at least that's one point in the 'not Rittenhouse' category."

"A Tumblr? Hmmm, can you send it to me?"

"Already done," Jiya said with glee. "Anyway, I'll keep digging, but I'll be polite about it, in case the dude just wants his privacy."

"Thank you," Lucy appreciated that. She didn't want to run Spartycuss off, she realized she'd miss his comments.

"Anyway, Rufus is cooking breakfast, I'll shout at you later."

They said their goodbyes and Lucy saw the email from Jiya with the Tumblr address.

Breakfast first, she decided, then she would see what lurked in Spartycuss' Tumblr account.

Wyatt had decided to stick around after breakfast to help with some of the repairs that both Preston sisters had been avoiding around the house. Lucy found it oddly comforting to hear the soldier cursing up a storm in the basement. She was glad that Flynn had helped them to salvage their friendship.

Lucy wondered if Flynn would be the one doing the repairs if he had survived. If he'd be annoyed like Wyatt or amused that she and Amy had gone without hot water for nearly two weeks. Her mind then drifted to Lorena and Iris.

She quickly stopped that train of thought before it took over her entire day. She was NOT going to think about Flynn today. Nope. She had set a mission for herself. She had Spartycuss' Tumblr to investigate. She had to get Flynn out of her head.

After making sure Wyatt and Amy were busy, she locked herself away in her study. She didn't want either of them walking in and teasing her for essentially stalking Spartycuss.

It took her a moment to even remember the password Jiya had set for her. She had only been on it once, two weeks ago. She examined her page and smiled at the lovely set up Jiya had done. She made a mental note to remind herself to thank the genius when they next spoke.

She went to the search bar and typed in Spartycuss' Tumblr name:  _ 101-percent-dalmatian _ . Weird handle, but whatever.

Their icon was the TARDIS from Doctor Who. She had seen enough fanart in Rufus and Jiya's apartment to know that much. The header was the Croatian flag. All hope of NOT thinking about Flynn had gone right out the window. Suddenly the handle made a little sense. Dalmatia _is_ part of Croatia.

The 101 part of it made her think of that time after a mission when Flynn had returned black and blue. The only thing that had cheered him up was watching one of Iris's favorite Disney movies: 101 Dalmatians.

Lucy suddenly had tears in her eyes. Would the gods be so cruel as to send her with a man similar to Flynn?

Lucy looked away from the computer, contemplating abandoning her quest to learn more about Spartycuss.

She rubbed her temples and decided she would see this through. She had to face the truth that Flynn was gone and things were going to remind her of him. She couldn't let that get in the way of life.

She started to scroll down the feed. There were a few reposts of things related to her blog. Some of her other fans had done commentary or went off on tangents. She was actually impressed by several of them and wondered if they were also historians–and if they weren't, they should be honorary ones.

There was a post about a dog that Spartycuss had met outside a coffee shop. And another dog that he ran into on his jog. He adorkably gushed over them.

Flynn loved dogs.

And horses. And cowboys.

He reposted a long meta about Spaghetti Westerns that was very eye-opening. It sounded just like something Flynn would find interesting and want to discuss.

Then there was a long post about her Tesla video. Longer than the one he posted on her video, it went into more detail about what she discussed, what she missed (though probably cut for time), and other thoughts.

It was like his video comment was an instant reaction and this was a more thoughtful review. She couldn't wait to see what he had to say about her other videos.

She clicked his #ProfessorFlynn tag and brought them up. The next one was her Bonny and Clyde. He went off on an elaborate conspiracy about Ford's key which... he was actually right about. Either he really did his research, or he stumbled onto something and he'd never know he was right.

Lucy scrolled down to the next post and paused. He had done one on the Night Witches. It looked like he posted it almost a week after she uploaded the video. It was a long post, he clearly had thoughts, so why didn't he post on hers?

Lucy read through it and there was a bit of a tonal shift but she couldn't figure out exactly what it was that was different.

She read a paragraph, stopped, and then went back.

_ "Their squadron had a ritual, they would tilt their wings at each other before cutting their engines, as a sign that they were all in this together, each other's wingwoman." _

Lorena had told her it was something her grandmother's squadron did... but Lucy cut the scene for time.

The ritual wasn't written in any book, there was actually little written about the Night Witches as a whole.

So how did Spartycuss know... 

Unless…

no, that's impossible...

Her pen clattering to the floor jolted her out of her daze. It couldn't be right. Two years. How could he...

Lucy's mind was reeling that she had to sit back and try to calm her rapidly unspooling thoughts. Should she tell the rest? What if she was wrong?

Her hand was already pawing for her phone and dialing Jiya.

She picked up at the third ring. "What deep, dark secret did you find?"

"Jiya," Lucy spoke in a low, measured tone. "I want you to look up EVERYTHING on Spartycuss."

"I thought that's what I was doing?" Jiya asked, confused.

Lucy took a few breaths, trying to calm down, but nothing was helping. "I… I need an address."

"Excuse me? What the hell did you find on his Tumblr? Do I need to call Denise?"

"No! I just...Trust me on this, please?"

It was silent on Jiya's end for a while. Lucy briefly thought she had hung up, "I may have done some hacking… I don't have an actual address, this guy is really good at hiding, but I know he lives in Nevada. I've narrowed it down to a suburb."

After getting the location, Lucy stared at it. Nevada. Their last safehouse had been on the border of California and Nevada. She remembered how Flynn always invited her on his trips into a town in Nevada.

The town whose address she currently held. Was Flynn actually alive? In Nevada???

Lucy grabbed her bag, the car keys, and walked into the kitchen where Wyatt was under the sink with a wrench while Amy sat on the island making fun of him.

She had the brief thought of asking Wyatt to come with her in case she needed backup… because what if this was something more sinister? But she nixed the idea because it didn't feel like Spartycuss wanted to hurt her, and if it was somehow Flynn... 

"I'm going to the library," she told Amy. "I don't know if I'll be back for dinner."

"When have you ever gone to the library and been back before dinner?" Amy snorted.

Lucy rolled her eyes then went out to her car. She put her hands on the wheel and took a deep breath. She could do this.

It wasn't a short drive, and the whole time Lucy kept trying to figure out how Flynn could be alive. He was caught in an explosion, along with Emma and the Mothership. Without Rittenhouse's access to a time machine to stop them, it only took two more trips to do what they needed to in order to bring everyone back.

Even if he survived the explosion, it was over a hundred year ago.

Maybe... maybe it wasn't Flynn, but someone who would know these things? Like Lorena? No, why would she drive to Nevada just to post. Stiv? No, he was a good guy but not much for history.

Or maybe Lucy was just projecting wishful thinking...

She got into town and wasn't sure where to start. There were a lot of houses and she couldn't exactly knock on all of them.

Needing gas anyway, she stopped at a station and filled up. She saw a sign for the local library and nearly smacked her head. It would be the best place to start her search. If anything, she could ask the librarian if she'd seen a tall, ungodly handsome Croat...

Lucy drove over, finding a parking spot off to the side of the building. She killed the engine and took off her seatbelt when the side door opened.

Time seemed to stop. Garcia "The Burgundy Time Bandit" Flynn had just walked out, and he was carrying a trash bag to the dumpster...

It really was him...

He was eating an apple and looked...relaxed, happy even. He grew a beard. Lucy watched as he dumped the bag in the dumpster, she was frozen in her seat and couldn't seem to get out of the car.

He was walking back to the side door when he stopped. He looked her way and smiled.

"MR. PRESTON!!"

Lucy jumped in her seat, surprised by the onslaught of children that ran up to Flynn. All of them calling him Mr. Preston.

She watched as he spoke to them. He was animated and smiling. He was alive… and happy. He's made a new life for himself.

Then the anger set in. Why didn't he come forward? Why didn't he say anything? If he was as happy as he looked then why follow her on social media at all? Why risk his new life? She needed answers.

Flynn picked one of the smaller kids up and led the rest in through the side door.

Lucy took a deep breath and exited her car. She didn't care how many kids he tried to hide behind, she was going to get her answers.

She walked into the library and heard clapping near the back. She followed it to a corner of the room that was set up as a kids’ area. In the middle of it sat Flynn with a book. All the kids sat in front of him, all beyond happy at the story he was telling.

She could see a few moms off to the side, staring hungrily at Flynn and she rolled her eyes.

Some things never change.

"Wilbur didn't want food, he wanted love. He wanted… a… friend..."

Lucy turned back and immediately locked eyes with him. He was staring wide eyed and slack-jawed at her.

Tears pooled in his eyes as he stood, his voice coming out in a whisper, "Lucy?"

Lucy still couldn't even breathe out his name, her earlier anger momentarily forgotten. All she could manage was a small whine in her throat.

"Mr. Preston!"

"Why'd you stop?"

Little heads turned to the direction of his gaze and saw Lucy.

"Who's that?" - "Is that Mr. Preston's girlfriend?" - "No, dummy! That's his-his 'pouse!" - "You're a dummy!"

The cacophony of whining children broke the spell between them. Flynn seemed to shake himself, remembering his duties to his children, and quieted them down.

"Is she your friend, Mr. Preston?" One of the little girls asked.

Flynn went on his haunches to be at eye level with her. "Yes, Sascha. She is a very good friend of mine," he admitted with a warm smile.

Flynn stood to his full height, and Lucy gulped. 

He looked good. 

Correction. He looked damn good. The years he had been missing from her life had been good to the bastard. 

“Mr. Preston,” she said, a bit harsher than she would have liked. At least he had the decency to blush.

He cleared his throat. He didn’t even know where to begin. So he settled on, “Professor Flynn.” 

Now it was Lucy’s turn to blush, and the moms watching their interaction with great interest murmured with no small amount of relief to hear that this newcomer didn’t share the last name of the handsome Croatian librarian whose story hours they made every effort to attend. With their children, of course. 

Flynn gazed at Lucy in surprise, and happiness, and shame, but he had just enough wherewithal to gesture to the lone dad in the group of parents and ask, “Mr. Sanders, I’m going to step away to chat with my long lost friend. Would you mind finishing the chapter for the children?”

The dad bobbed his head with a dopey smile and took over for the extremely handsome man.

Flynn stepped around the children until he was in front of her. He went to open his mouth, but she turned and walked towards the side door he had entered from with the kids.

He cleared his throat again and after a quick glance back at the group of moms he quickly followed after her.

Once outside he didn't know what to do with himself. He wasn't sure if she would welcome a hug or even a smile. He raised his arms, but let them drop uselessly back to his side. He was waiting for her to tell him what to do.

Lucy crossed, then uncrossed her arms. She was happy and upset and angry. She didn't know which emotion to settle on. So she decided all three. "I hate you."

Flynn blinked, he wasn't expecting THAT. "Oh...well tha–"

_ SMACK! _

Flynn held his face and looked surprised that Lucy struck him. Then he was even more surprised when she wrapped herself around him and began crying.

"I missed you." She cried into his chest.

Tears filled his eyes once more as he slowly wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

They stayed like that for a while, his arms holding her tight. Lucy took deep shuddering breaths, trying hard to calm herself so they could have an actual conversation, but the maelstrom of emotions tearing through her wouldn’t allow it. She was angry, so so angry, that her best friend, her easiest to talk to, had allowed her to believe him dead for two whole years. Two years of grief, and loneliness, and an ever-present ache in her heart. But her anger reminded her of her loneliness, which made her cry even harder, and then she’d realize that maybe now, she wouldn’t have to be so lonely anymore, and her tears reflected her relief and overwhelming happiness.

And then she laughed and decided to settle on an emotion. 

Flynn pulled away and looked down at her in surprise. “What?” he smiled. 

“If you think you’re off the hook, you’re sorely mistaken,” she laughed through her lingering tears. Still, she allowed him to brush them away with the pads of his thumbs. 

“I know, I know,” he admitted. “And we have so much to catch up on, although maybe not as much as one would think, Professor.” 

His smirk was expected, as was the pitter-patter of her heart. Amy had been right, but at least now she didn’t have to be in love with a ghost.

“That should make you feel even worse!” Her voice began to rise. “I was so lonely without you I resorted to conversing with strangers online!”

"I... ," he sighed, unable to respond.

"You died," Lucy whispered, for as much as she was glad he didn't, she needed to know. "The Mothership was destroyed. How are you alive?"

"Emma was firing the Mothership up," he said with a shrug. "I'm not sure about the science, but when everything exploded, I was caught in some kind of time bubble. I felt like I was drowning. Then next thing I know, I'm in that warehouse... only it was the present.

"I was hurt pretty bad," he touched his side. "I was states away, and thought I was still a wanted fugitive. So I hid out, got patched up. By the time I got back to the farmhouse, you were all gone."

"You could have contacted us. You know where Denise works, lives, you could have found a way!" Lucy was angry. "I... What about Lorena and Iris?"

Flynn swallowed hard. "They know."

"What?"

"And I asked Lorena not to tell anyone."

The flare of anger returned, but she waited him out to explain himself.

"I convalesced for almost a year. And... I was a mess, Lucy." He scrubbed a hand down his face. "I had nothing in this timeline. Or, at least, I thought I didn't," he added, seeing Lucy about to rebut.

"You had Lorena and Iris back," she countered fiercely. "You had us."  _ You have me _ , she didn't think to add.

Flynn shut his eyes in pain. "I only found out they were alive after I recovered, when I thought to look for any traces of any of you.

"I found my girls first," he went on to say. "I sought them out, almost gave Lorena an aneurysm when I showed up at her door. And Iris..." his eyes softened. "I never thought I'd see my little girl after all this. I couldn't let them go on knowing I was dead, when I wasn't. They deserved at least that much."

"Why are you here, and not with them?" she prompted, even while she loathed bringing Flynn out of the fond memory he seemed to be reliving.

"I told you: I was going to walk away from them when I get them back."

"Lorena didn't let you," Lucy stated, more as a fact than an accusation.

Flynn nodded. "We talked, and I told her everything–everything I've done in the past, to all of you." He shot her a pained wince. "Told her that I wasn't the same man who was worthy to be her husband or Iris' father."

"... and?" She had to know, even if it crushed her soul.

"Of course she disagreed with me. But she understood that I, ah, I had to let her go. It must have killed her inside, but she understood." He looked both pained and awed. "She still wanted me to be in their lives, at least, to still be there for Iris and be the best friends that we were."

It soothed her somewhat that Flynn was finally reunited with his family, but her heart needed answers, too.

"Denise had contacted Lorena to let them know that you'd..." she gestured vaguely, aware he knew what she meant.

"I don't begrudge you getting them back," she continued, voice stronger. "But please help me understand why you felt the need to stay away from us."

Flynn bowed his head. "I was a mess. And everyone had moved on."

"You don't think we would have helped you?" Lucy was incensed.

"I didn't want to be a burden," he nearly growled out. "Then days turned into weeks, into months. I... I didn't know what I'd say, so I said nothing."

"You would  **never** be a burden. Not to me. I... I thought we were friends."

"After stopping Rittenhouse and getting your sister back, I wasn't sure what use you'd have for a busted up terrorist."

Lucy pressed her palms to her temples and tried not to scream. "You're such a dramatic ass!” Lucy was just so angry, how could he... how could he think she didn't...

She looked into his eyes and saw someone who was in so much pain. A man who lost everything and was never going to rid himself of deep scars. A man who hadn't felt worthy of being a father again… let alone a friend.

"Are you... happy here?" Lucy asked quietly.

"It has its moments," he tried a smile. "And it's quiet. Sometimes too quiet. I do miss our discussions."

"Is that why you stalk my YouTube channel?"

Flynn sputtered and tried to cover... failing miserably. "I wouldn't say stalked, lots of people follow YouTube channels."

She couldn't help a chuckle at that. "Flynn... Garcia. You are my best friend, second only to Amy. And while I don't agree with your decision, I understand and forgive you."

Lucy reached into her bag and pulled out a slip of paper and pen. She scribbled down her number and address.

Lucy placed the paper in his hand. "If you want to have another late night conversation, I'll always pick up the phone."

She went to pull away, but Flynn tightened his hold on her. He licked his bottom lip as he stared down at her. She looked curiously up at him.

"I… ah… I understand that you and the team get together every Sunday?"

Lucy smirked, "So you ARE stalking me."

He blushed, "Lorena told me."

Lucy nodded, waiting for him to continue, but when he didn't, she managed to actually pull away from him this time, "Are you asking for an invitation?

Flynn gave a shrug, "That's messed up, right? I mean I walked away from my own daughter and yet I can't seem to walk away from..." He trailed off.

"From the team?" She asked, not willing to hope for more.

He took a deep breath and reached to cup her face. "From you, Lucy." Her breath caught in her throat. "Messed up, right?"

"We're messed up individuals, Garcia. You can come back."

Lucy offered him a knowing smile. "And you didn't walk away from Iris. You walked right to her door, and you know Lorena couldn't have made you stay in touch if you didn't want it."

Flynn thought about that for a moment and lightly laughed at himself. "Perhaps it's you who knows me better than I know myself?"

"You didn't have to post on my video," she pointed out. "But you did, and I knew it was you. It just took a little time for my head to catch up with my heart."

"I... I think part of me wanted you to find me..."

"And the other part is afraid," she could read him so easily. "You don't have to be afraid. Not of the team. Not of me."

Flynn smiled down at her and she could see all the love he held for her.

"Come home with me." She blurted out.

He raised a brow at her, "You have to try harder then that. We've only just met, Professor Flynn."

She blushed at his teasing, but smiled all the same. "You know what I mean...Although I wouldn't be opposed to that... Mr. Preston."

Now it was Flynn's turn to blush and he struggled to find words for a moment. "I..." He cleared his throat, "I don't have a place to stay in California. I don't want to intrude on Lorena's house."

Lucy tilted her head to the side, "Is it because of Lorena's boyfriend?"

Flynn shifted uncomfortably, "I don't want to put her in a weird position. She really likes him. I don't wanna ruin that for her."

"Do you… Are you still in love with her?" Lucy looked away, not wanting to see the truth in his eyes.

"I'll always love her. She IS my best friend. But I've moved on. I've found someone else." Lucy misunderstood completely and Flynn could tell she did and smiled shyly at her, "It’s...it's you, Lucy. I'm in love with you. Just to be clear."

Lucy let out a breath, "I thought you were going to tell me it was one of those moms in the library...or the dad."

Flynn rolled his eyes, "Mr. Sanders groped my ass once and his wife didn't believe me."

Lucy doubled over laughing. She couldn't help it. Flynn just held her with a 'really?' look on his face.

"Don't worry," she assured, still chuckling. "I'm in love with more than your ass."

Her words didn't register until she felt Flynn stiffen and silenced for several beats.

"You... love... me?" he asked softly. When Lucy looked up, there was a look of wonder in his face.

It was her turn to flounder. "Garcia, I-I care about you, very much. I just found out you're alive, and it's all so much, and..."

Flynn took hold of her shoulders. "Hey," he called out gently, stopping her rant. "We'll figure it out. Okay? There's no need to rush. We have time." He winced slightly at his phrasing.

"You can stay with me and Amy." We have the room." Lucy bit her lip, nervous about him possibly rejecting her offer. "Unless you don't want to come back. If you'd rather stay here..."

"I want to go back. I want to see Iris more than once a month on a video call. I want...this." He pointed between them. "But I enjoy reading to these kids. Even if I get groped by a parent every now and then."

"How often do they cop a feel?"

"That's not important." Flynn blushed a deep red and Lucy felt bad for laughing the first time. "But I think I might need a few days. To think things over. Is that alright?"

Lucy cupped his face and brought it down to her so she could kiss his cheek. "Garcia, I thought you were dead for two years, a few more days isn't going to kill me."

They both shared a soft smile and hugged each other tight.

Lucy buried her face in Garcia’s chest and took a deep breath. Ohhh, she had missed this as well. Lying next to him as they had slept in the bunker, and later the farmhouse, she had come to associate his manly scent with a feeling of being safe. Without that, these last two years, she had felt exposed, and adrift. As if the smallest thing could cause her harm. She nestled closer to him and breathed even deeper, then she felt his chest rumble as he laughed. 

“Lucy, are you... smelling me?” he asked.

Lucy's eyes popped open. "No."

She cleared her throat and stepped back. They both had a good chuckle at that.

"I... I won't tell anyone," Lucy decided. "If you want to stay here, where it's quiet, I'll keep your secret."

"Thank you," he breathed a small sigh of relief, but it didn't make his decision any easier.

"Dinner, Sunday," Lucy smiled softly. "You're welcome to come, and invited to stay."

Flynn nodded his head, not quite sure what to say other than thank you over and over again, and that he was sorry for not having the strength to go to her after everything that had happened.

"Now why don't you get back to the kids before they revolt," Lucy smiled brightly.

"They just might," he agreed, that or the mothers would.

There was still a nervous energy in the air, neither quite wanting to say goodbye. Then Lucy moved quickly forward and gave him a light kiss on the cheek.

He was stunned by the gesture and Lucy was surprised herself. She laughed a little awkward laugh; it reminded him of their meeting before he was arrested.

She then quickly retreated back to her car. Flynn watched her leave and was torn between chasing after her and the fear that idea brought.

Lucy drove home... praying she would see him again... on her doorstep...

Lucy doesn't go home right away. She had driven around for a couple of hours, until she needed to refill her tank again. The gas station she stopped at was just down the street from the library she frequented. She  _ did  _ say she was going to the library. And she also needed another idea for her next video. A few more hours away from home wouldn't hurt, she figured.

She didn't want to influence Flynn's decision in any way, but she wanted him to know that he was safe and loved in her world and not just in the little corner of a library. She had just the historical figure in mind to convey that message.

Robert Johnson.

She checked out several books from the library and even called Connor to schedule an interview. He was over the moon with excitement, just as she knew he'd be.

When she arrived home, Wyatt was passed out on the couch and Amy was finishing up with dinner.

"I see Wyatt's still here."

"He fixed almost everything we've broken. I promised him steak as payment. I've always wanted an older brother, can we keep him?"

Lucy rolled her eyes and laughed.

"How was the library? Meet any hot nerds?"

Lucy blushed a little, as much as she told Amy everything, she made a promise to Flynn. "There was this really attractive guy reading to kids. Definitely my type."

....Well she couldn't exactly NOT tell her sister SOMETHING.

"You get his number?" Amy wiggled her eyebrows.

Lucy suddenly realized, that she had NOT in fact gotten Flynn's number. "...no. But I gave him mine. And he said he might call upon me on Sunday."

Amy gave Lucy a 'WTF' expression, "Call upon’..? That's it no more library privileges. You're hopeless. Wyatt has a better love life."

"Just don't tell him that," Lucy drolled. "Do you want me to help you with dinner or not?"

After an argument over how often Lucy had almost set the kitchen on fire... the sisters got dinner made. Wyatt woke up when Amy opened a beer and waved it near his nose.

Part of Lucy was still angry at Flynn for not trusting her to be able to come forward. But she understood he needed to heal.

She could forgive him. Even if he stayed away.

After dinner, Lucy got to work outlining her next post. She wanted to use Robert Johnson's 'Stop Breaking Down' and checked to see if there was one in the public domain she could use. There was.

Mason came over the next day, all too eager to talk about the artist that he admired. Lucy had to remind him she was going to post part of this so he needed to stay away from first person pronouns.

Days were slipping by and every time there was a knock on the door, Lucy would get disappointed that it wasn't Flynn. But it wasn't Sunday yet.

On Friday, Lucy sat down to record her part so she'd have all day Saturday to edit.

Lucy didn't have her original outfit, of course, but she remembered clearly what she had worn that day. The burgundy, the stripes, her hair... she didn't replicate it exactly, but enough that Flynn would know...

"Have you ever had that perfect moment? You know, when you're with someone and the perfect song comes on the radio and you know that there is no other time or place you'd rather be but there, with them? If you have, you likely have Robert Johnson to thank for it."

After reviewing her part and re-recording it because she didn't want to look TOO excited about this video, she finally took a breath.

Two days. She'd know if Flynn wanted to return to a life with...In California. She shook her head. Him returning wouldn't necessarily mean they'd start a relationship. He might not be ready for that. For them. But she was patient, she'd told him as such. She could do this. It's just two days.

It's not like she agonized over the fact that he hadn't called her. Or that he's had her number for five days and didn't so much as send her a text so that SHE had HIS number. Nope. Wasn't freaking out over that fact at all. The fact that she dove for her phone whenever it went off didn't mean anything… She was calm. Totally calm. Never been calmer.

She was also lying to herself.

On Saturday, she took her time editing. She wanted to make sure that she was clear, at least to Flynn, how important he was to her. How she missed him. How she would always be there for him.

While also providing quality historical entertainment for her subscribers.

On Sunday, she posted the video then sat back and waited. Each comment that came in she quickly checked. But Spartycuss was quiet for the moment.

There was a knock at the door.

"I got it," she shouted at Amy and nearly tripped on the rug getting to the door.

She took a deep breath and opened it.

Lucy would not feel disappointment that it was Rufus and Jiya; they were her friends.

She gave them hugs and wanted to tell them that Flynn was alive but it wasn't her secret to tell.

"Hey, so, Spartycuss," Jiya asked when they were alone in the kitchen. "You never did tell me what went on there."

"Sorry, got really busy on my latest video," Lucy apologized. "Thank you for finding me the information. Turns out... he was a librarian."

"This doesn't surprise me," Jiya laughed. "Did you talk to him? Was he a creep?"

"No, far from." It was killing Lucy she couldn't tell Jiya but Lucy held onto the hope that the next time the doorbell rang, Flynn would be there.

Then the doorbell did ring and Lucy quickly shouted that she'd get it, cutting off Rufus in the hallway in her somewhat mad dash to the door.

This time… it was only Wyatt.

The soldier huffed in annoyance at the obvious look of disappointment Lucy couldn’t keep from her face. 

“Jeez,” he grumbled. “I’m used to being made to feel like chopped liver, but I feel absolutely pulverized right about now.” He shoved a 6-pack of beer and another of cider into Lucy’s arms and stomped past her into the house. 

“What’s going on, Lucy?” Rufus sounded suspicious. Lucy was never so excited to answer the door for a Sunday dinner that she nearly took casualties. 

“I guess I just-“ Lucy stammered. 

“She’s hoping Spartycuss shows up tonight,” Amy said knowingly, joining them in the entryway. 

Jiya crossed her arms and fixed Lucy with a stare that told the historian she may not get out of this without divulging more about Flynn’s identity than she would like. Lucy gulped, her eyes flitting back and forth between Jiya and Amy, avoiding Wyatt’s sudden look of interest, and had just decided to tell them that Spartycuss was handsome when a knock at the door made her squawk instead. 

Rufus chuckled and reached over to the door as Lucy looked on, heart pounding, as Connor and Denise pushed their way into the entryway. 

“Why are you all standing here?” Connor asked, glancing at everyone clustered within six feet of one another and the door. 

“I think they’re all waiting for me,” a deep accented voice answered from the doorway. 

The group fell silent.

Everyone stared slack-jawed at a very alive Garcia Flynn. He stood awkwardly in the doorway. Nervously fidgeting with his jacket as he waited for  _ somebody  _ to say something.

Amy looked around confused at everyone's reactions, especially Lucy's love-struck one. "Um, who are you?"

Flynn's eyes shifted to the younger Preston and he smiled. "It's a privilege to meet you, Amy. I'm Spartycuss… but they know me as Garcia Flynn." He reached out a hand for her to shake.

Amy's eyes bugged out as she shook his hand, fumbling for words to say.

"You shaved." Lucy said as she took in his handsome features. "You came."

Flynn smiled shyly at Lucy as he ran his hand through his now shorter hair. He then glanced at the still silent team, "I wanted to look presentable."

"You look… good." Lucy blushed. She could feel the confusion and anger radiating off of the team as they stared at both her and Flynn. "Come in."

"I think the fuck not!" Wyatt finally snapped. "You DIED. We buried you. Two years ago!"

"Wyatt–"

"No, Lucy! He hurt his wife and daughter! He hurt us. Hurt YOU! And you KNEW he was alive?" Angry tears filled the soldier's eyes. He thought they were friends, he and Lucy. Him and Flynn. But what kind of friend would have you believe he was dead for two years?

Flynn just clasped his hands in front of him and waited for everyone else to berate him or try and drive him away. He wasn't leaving.

"Bigger picture, man," Rufus told Wyatt, then looked at Flynn. "How the hell are you alive? You were in that explosion! I should be looking at a ghost right now."

"I don't know exactly," Flynn admitted with a shrug. "Emma started up the Mothership, everything exploded, and I woke up in the present, badly hurt from the explosion."

"And Emma?" Connor asked.

"I don't know. She wasn't there, and there was no debris except a few things in my immediate vicinity."

"Great," Rufus said dourly, "so she could be dead or alive out there in some random year. She's Schrodinger's Scary Red Head."

"Alright, everyone," Denise said in her mother/agent tone. "Clearly Flynn has a lot of questions to answer. Let's move this to the living room and give him a chance to explain."

Flynn nodded and they made their way inside. Even with his height, he seemed small against them.

Lucy wondered if she made a mistake. Maybe she should have introduced him gradually, not to everyone at once.

"Lucy," Wyatt was next to her, "he's been alive this whole time and didn't say anything? We both saw that little girl of his bawling her eyes out at the funeral and he let it happen. You okay with that?"

"Maybe hear what he has to say before you pass judgement," Lucy bit back. "And then look him in the eye and tell him you wouldn't do the same."

She left Wyatt to think about that, then joined the others.

Lucy sat Flynn in the center of the couch, taking her place beside him in silent support. The others either sat or stood not too far away.

With the shock of seeing him alive the first time put behind her, Lucy was able to get a really good look at him. Overall, he looked... good, but on closer inspection, he lost weight and was a little pale. In fact, he looked to be struggling to hide how frayed around the edges he really was.

"Are you okay?" She couldn't help but ask, a hand on his arm, and felt small tremors under her palm.

"Just tired," he answered. "I've never driven so far in a while."

Lucy frowned. Flynn had ridden on horseback for hours and bitched about it, but never looked as worn out as he was now, after a mere two-hour drive.

"Do you want to..."

He shook his head. "I'd rather be done with this now than ruin your dinner."

"Okay," Denise piped up. "First off: you're sure Emma didn't follow you back in the present?"

"Mostly sure. It was one of the few things I checked when I was able to. Nothing came up."

Denise looked uncertain, but nodded. "I'll make inquiries as well. What did you do when you came back in the present?"

"Tried to stay alive." He lifted one side of his shirt, where a large, misshapen patch of healed skin tissue marred the left side of his torso. The others couldn't hold back a gasp. He lowered his shirt.

"The explosion almost ripped me in half and broke my back," he explained. "Been on PT when I recovered enough since last year, managed to regain most mobility to my legs and other extremities, but I still tire too quickly."

"Flynn..." Jiya murmured.

"But I can manage to walk to the grocery and cook for myself," he continued, a shadow of his usual snark.

"You didn't say anything, when..."

"I didn't want you to worry, Lucy. It's all in the past."

"Why didn't you come home?" Jiya asked in a small hurt voice. "I never saw you..." She hadn't seen him in any of her visions and truly thought he had died. Like Rufus had.

Flynn shrugged, "I never thought to look for any of you. I was… too scared. I was afraid that none of you existed." His fingers twitched, he wanted to hug Jiya, but by her body language he knew it wouldn't be welcomed. Especially with Rufus and Wyatt angrily standing in front of her.

"When I finally did, I found out you buried me. I… I couldn't let my little girl think I was dead when I wasn't."

"You went to see Lorena and Iris?" Connor asked with a small smile, he knew how much Flynn had missed his girls and was happy that they were able to save them for him. He was the only one, beside Lucy, that didn't look pissed that he had interrupted their dinner plans.

Flynn smiled back at him, "Yes. Lorena wasn't exactly happy, but she understood. Don't be mad at her or Iris, I begged them to keep my secret." He quickly added the last part when he noticed Denise's nose flare in anger.

"They could know, but the rest of your family couldn't?" Wyatt asked, still pissed.

Flynn just stared at him... Wyatt considered him family?... Did they all consider him part of their family? He looked at Lucy, asking her, but she was looking at Wyatt. Did she still love the blonde? Was she  _ with  _ him? He hadn't thought to ask when she found him.

He felt his heart start to beat faster. He needed to leave. This wasn't working. No one but Lucy and maybe Connor wanted him around.

"He also stalked Lucy online. That's just messed up." Rufus added, not noticing Flynn's heavy breathing.

He stood up quickly and wrung his hands together, "I should go… This was clearly a mistake. I'm sorry… really, really sorry."

He took a few steps towards the front door when he felt three hands grip his clothes. He turned and found Jiya, Rufus, and Wyatt holding on for dear life.

"Where the fuck are you going now?" Wyatt asked.

"Ah… home?"

"You are home." Rufus stated, "It's Sunday. We have family dinners on Sunday."

Tears blurred Flynn's vision and he suddenly found himself with an armful of Jiya as she hugged him fiercely.

Jiya sniffed, "Welcome home, Flynn."

Three simple words. It wasn't meant to be Flynn's undoing, but here it was.

His breath stuttered out of him, and he was feeling faint. He swayed where he stood, then felt two pairs of hands on his back and shoulders.

"Whoa there, steady now," Wyatt said, a hand on his back and another holding him firm on his shoulder. "Let's go sit back down, eh?"

At his nod, Flynn let himself be led back to the couch, with Jiya's arm wrapped around his waist, Wyatt on his other side and Rufus walking behind them.

Lucy smiled, her eyes filled with tears, as her friends led Flynn back into the living room. Their reactions had been emotional, and seemed to have convinced him to stay. Relieved as she was, she couldn’t stop the pang of disappointment wrapping around her heart that  _ she  _ hadn’t been enough to convince him to stay. 

But then Connor asked, after Flynn had resettled on the couch, “So what made you decide to come back?”

Flynn took a deep breath and glanced over at Lucy, who was once more at his side. “It was a couple of things,” he said, smiling softly at her. Despite how hurt the rest of the team had been, he knew he needed to be the most careful with her. 

“First off, Lucy–or should I say, Professor Flynn–has not lost her powers of persuasion.” He broadened his smile. 

Lucy raised her eyebrows, curious as to what had finally convinced Flynn that he was wanted. 

“What did she say?” Jiya urged him to continue. 

“She was angry, which I deserved, but not only did she invite me to dinner and offer me a place to stay, she also told me she loved my ass.”

Lucy swatted his arm, probably harder than she should have, as the room erupted in sounds of surprise and laughter. Lucy laughed along with everyone else, but his answer only made her feel worse. Was that it? He came because he knew he’d have a place to stay? 

Flynn could tell by the look on Lucy’s face that he had messed up. Why could he never get things right with her?

So he pushed on. “She let me know that I was wanted, but she also gave me space and time to decide what I wanted to do. Which meant a lot to me.” He rested his hand on her knee, an action that went unnoticed by no one. Jiya and Amy looked at one another gleefully. And when Lucy placed her hand gently over Flynn’s, Amy did a happy dance just outside their line of sight. 

“But actually, Connor, you played a part in making me decide to just go for it. To risk it all and come out here to see you all.” 

“Me?” Connor asked, surprised. 

“Robert Johnson.” Flynn felt Lucy lean into his side, and knew he had finally gotten it right. “Your interview with Lucy reminded me of a most perfect moment from my life, sitting there in 1936 watching you produce Robert’s album.” 

Connor smiled. They all knew it had been one of his life’s best moments as well. 

“And then,” Flynn continued, “That interview made me realize that there was no other time or place I wanted to be than here. With you all.” He paused. “With Lucy.”

Lucy smiled brightly at him and Flynn felt all of his pain melt away with her smile. He smiled back.

Jiya nudged Amy as everyone just watched the two dorks shoot heart eyes at each other.

Wyatt couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Lucy so happy. He was  _ not  _ going to cry. So he cleared his throat, "Er... We should… eat." Just then his and Rufus's stomachs growled. Loudly.

Everyone chuckled and moved to the dining room, leaving the two love-struck dorks on the couch for a moment.

Flynn glanced down the hall, a question on his mind. "Are you and… You're not..." He didn't know how to ask.

Lucy read the nervousness on his face and shifted closer, taking his hand in hers. Trying to give him the strength he needed to ask what was on his mind. "What is it?"

"Are you and Wyatt–"

"God no!" Lucy quickly interrupted. "That's never happening again. We're just… family." Calling Wyatt that seemed right. Everyone currently in the house was her family and nothing less. "Besides, I don't find him remotely attractive anymore."

"We can hear you, Lucy." Wyatt's voice filtered in from down the hall.

Flynn laughed and it lit up his face. His laughter was like a balm to her soul and she felt the residual anger she had towards him dissolve like smoke.

Flynn lifted her hand to his lips and placed a soft, lingering kiss on her fingers. "I haven't felt like I belonged in a long time."

Lucy's voice was soft as she leaned her head on his shoulder, "And now?"

Flynn leaned wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side. "Now… I'm right where I belong. Wrapped around a beautiful and intelligent woman because I love her."

Lucy tilted her head and kissed the underside of his jaw. "She loves you, too."

They stared at each other. The tension building as they grew closer. Their noses gently bumped as they opened their mouths for each other.

"Amy thinks you should have this conversation with no one around to eavesdrop."

They both jumped apart at Connor's voice. He was all smiles, sipping a glass of wine. He wouldn't have cared if they had ripped each other's clothes off. But there was a house full of people.

Lucy recovered first, "Right. Dinner. With family."

"Our family." Flynn shrugged with a smirk.

They watched Connor walk back to the dining room, then Lucy stood and helped Flynn up. She looked up at him, the happiness of having to strain her neck once again to look him in the eye overwhelming her. 

She sighed, and he touched his fingertips to hers. “What is it,  _ draga _ ?” he asked, worried once again that maybe she had realized that she was making a mistake with him. 

“It’s just...” Lucy bit her lip. “Over a year we lived together in the bunker, and the farmhouse. Why did we not do this then? Why only now?”

Flynn sucked in a breath. Her acceptance of him, her wanting him, was so powerful, so healing, it took his breath away. He placed his hands on her arms, gently running his fingers down to her elbows and back. 

“Lucy, I... was scared. I’m always scared. Scared that I have done so much wrong in this world, I’m not deserving of this. Of happiness.” He looked down bashfully. “Of love.” 

She furrowed her brow and placed her hands on his chest. “Garcia, I think it’s time you stop casting judgement on yourself and allow those who love you to decide for themselves whether or not they still want you in their lives. I’m telling you right now that I 100% without a doubt want you in mine.”

His heart filled to near bursting and he gazed at her in wonder. They had waited too long for this. Reaching one hand around to cradle her head, he ran the fingers of the other down her face to her lips, and then lowered his mouth to hers. She whimpered as she opened her mouth to him, and threading her fingers through his newly cut hair, she pulled him even closer to her. He moaned when her tongue gently touched his, and the kiss deepened as they finally allowed themselves to show one another the depth of their feelings. 

Just then, someone cleared their throat. Startled, Flynn and Lucy jumped away from one another, and looking over, saw their entire family standing in the entrance to the living room. Rufus began to clap.

Everyone slowly joined in on the clapping, causing Lucy to blush and buried her face in Flynn's chest. Flynn chuckled, not even fighting the bright smile on his face as he wrapped an arm around her waist. 

"So... dinner?" Flynn laughed.

"Unless you two want to skip to dessert." Amy winked at him.

Lucy groaned in embarrassment and Denise took pity on the younger woman. "Alright, stop gawking! Let's move this along, people. Dining room, now. ALL of you." She gave Flynn a pointed look.

Flynn watched them, once again, file out and rubbed circles in Lucy's back. "They're gone."

"I'm never going to live this down. Let's run away and never come back." She pouted.

Flynn smiled down at her and pecked her lips. "I just got back and you're already trying to get me to leave?"

"I'll be with you this time." Lucy's voice was soft.

Flynn was at a loss for words. This incredible woman loved him. He could see it in her eyes that she didn't care how damaged he was. He felt himself fall more in love with her.

"Yo, the foods getting cold! Stop necking and get your asses in here!" Jiya yelled at them.

"We probably should go before they kill us." Lucy chuckled.

Flynn offered her his arm and she gladly took it. They slowly walked down the hall and into the dining room, taking the last two seats. Their family was smiling at them.

"I love you, Professor Flynn."

"And I love you, Mr. Preston."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here be the imagine that spawned its own Tumblr page! ^_^ And now, we have all of our imagines posted on there. We hope you drop by.


	10. Bachelor Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [#FlynnFriday imagine](https://twitter.com/thalia_msr/status/1266265183153872896): Flynn, Wyatt, and Rufus decide to go bar hopping. They return the next day and try to explain to their significant others what transpired the night before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can say this is our Timeless version of The Hangover--sort of.

Lucy didn't always get a chance to look down on the guys like this, but she didn't have the time to relish it. Not when Garcia was sporting a goose egg and a cut lip, Wyatt with a blossoming black eye and bloody nose, and Rufus passed out sprawled in between the other men, wearing a—tutu?—and a necktie around his head.

She looked from one sheepish face to another. "You're lucky Jiya's too busy right now to see his fiancee like this." She peered closer at Rufus' slack face, momentarily feeling horrified seeing the red splotches on his face. She took a whiff, and smelled cosmetics instead of the coppery scent of blood. Lipstick, then.

Since this was Jiya's soon-to-be-husband, Lucy couldn't decide if that was better or worse.

"Now. Can either of you care to explain what happened?" she asked the still seemingly lucid duo.

Garcia and Wyatt shared a look, clearly not wanting to get into detail over what transpired the night before. But Garcia also refused to lie to his wife about anything.

"Well… Promise you won't get upset?" Garcia started.

Lucy looked between the trio before her eyes landed on her husband. "That really depends on what you say next, doesn't it?"

Garcia hesitated for a moment, "I think I should make us some coffee before you kill us, then."

He quickly stood and rushed to the kitchen, leaving Lucy to glare at Wyatt and a still passed out Rufus.

She honed in on Wyatt in the meantime. "You. You were supposed to be looking out for Rufus as his best man! And now, you even roped in Garcia with your-your... whatever shenanigans this is!" She gestured to Rufus.

Wyatt has the grace to wince. "Luce, it's not as bad as Flynn makes it sound..."

"I'd like to think I know him better than you," she said with a huff and a glance to where Garcia fled to.

"Nobody died...?" Wyatt tried.

"But you two come home looking like you came from a brawl, and Rufus is unconscious!" She looked alarmed. "He doesn't have a concussion, does he?"

Wyatt has his hands out in front of him. "No, no! He's fine!" he assured.

"Then why is he unconscious??" Lucy was beginning to lose her patience, and Garcia was taking his sweet time with the coffee.

"Lucy, Rufus drank like a fish last night. He's going to have a massive hangover when he wakes up."

A low groan came from the unconscious man. Wyatt and Lucy watched as Rufus opened one eye before shutting it with another groan. He tossed his arm over his eyes. "Kill me..."

Lucy had the urge to loudly greet him, but Jiya would most likely kill all three men when she finds out they all got plastered. "Hey, Rufus." She whispered instead.

He just grunted in reply.

Garcia returned with a tray full of mugs, water bottles, and a handful of pills. He handed Lucy her coffee first, an apologetic smile on his lips. "I love you."

Lucy smirked in amusement, "Did you cheat on me last night or something?" Garcia and Wyatt shared a look and Lucy's heart dropped a little. "Garcia?"

"In Flynn's defense, he tried pushing the stripper off, but the guy was very handsy." Wyatt interjected.

"... You cheated on me with a male stripper?"

"Steve molested all of us. He practically raped Flynn's mouth before the bouncer tossed him out for getting too drunk," Rufus explained after he took the Tylenol with his coffee.

Garcia was staring very hard at his shoes as he took a seat next to Rufus, clearly uncomfortable and terrified of Lucy's reaction.

Lucy just stared slack-jawed at the trio and blinked a few times before she put her mug on the table between them. "Start from the beginning."

Garcia gestured to Wyatt to go ahead.

He sputtered before saying, "Thanks for throwing me under the bus, man."

"As the best man AND the planner of whatever the hell that was yesterday, I'm giving you the chance to redeem yourself."

"To be fair," Rufus slurred, "it wasn't entirely our fault?"

Lucy could feel a headache coming on. She loves these idiots, but herding cats was a cake walk compared to them. "The. Beginning."

"Well..." Wyatt started. He took a deep breath, trying to remember when everything started to go from amazing time out with the guys to one horrible experience to the other. "It started when you all left..."

* * *

* * *

**_18 HOURS EARLIER_ **

_"Jiya, we'll be fine. I promise not to let anything happen to Rufus or Flynn." Wyatt smiled as he gently pushed Jiya and Lucy out of the door._

_The rest of the bridal party were already at the spa getting pampered. Lucy had spared no expense as Maid of Honor._

_"We're only gonna have a quiet night in. It's RUFUS. Just us, Flynn and a bottle of scotch. We might play video games and share our feelings nothing more." Wyatt was positive nothing bad was going to happen. The other groomsmen had gotten delayed due to a storm, so it was just the three amigos..._

_How much trouble could they possibly get in?_

_Jiya let out a chuckle. "Fine! But don't over do it!" With that she allowed Lucy to drag her to the car and to their spa treatments._

_Wyatt watched the car take off down the road before he shut the door and returned to the living room where Flynn and Rufus sat playing Call Of Duty. He sat down next to them and used the house phone to order a pizza, not realizing he left his cell phone on the dining table._

_His phone buzzed several times. Several texts from BamBam went unnoticed. Text explaining that the groomsmen were driving to the Flynn residence with booze and a list of bars they should visit._

_He didn't realize that the storm was now heading their way and that their night was going to be anything BUT calm, but rather very, very chaotic. And it was going to be his fault for not checking his phone._

* * *

_"So," Lucy prompted as she relaxed into the chair, her feet soaking in a warm, luxurious mix of scented oils and epsom salts. She turned her head to where Jessica was also relaxing in a similar chair._

_"Yeah?" The blonde cracked open an eye._

_"How much trouble do you think the guys would get into?" Lucy asked quietly, conscious that Jiya was just a chair over._

_Jessica's lip quirked to one side. "Those three? As much trouble as you can imagine, I think."_

_Lucy sighed, agreeing. "I was afraid you'd say that."_

* * *

_"You expecting anyone?" Rufus turned to Flynn as the doorbell chimed._

_The other man shrugged, eyes never leaving the game._

_"I got it!" Wyatt volunteered, standing up and striding towards the front door. "It must be the pizza. They sure got here real quick."_

_Wyatt blinked at the group before him. Dave, Connor, Rufus's younger brother Kevin, and a small handful of Rufus's coworkers stood on the opposite side of the Flynn's door._

_"You gonna let us in, soldier, or stand there gaping like a fish?" Dave chuckled at his friend._

_"What the hell are you all doing here? I thought none of you couldn't make it?" Wyatt asked, slightly annoyed at the intrusion on Rufus's behalf._

_"And have my dear boy miss out on a wonderful stag party? Nonsense." Connor said as he forced his way past Wyatt._

_Wyatt then watched as the rest of the group walked in single file, each looking a little more intoxicated than the last. The party had clearly started on the ride over._

_"We called, but you didn't answer." Kevin was saying when Wyatt made it back to the living room where an overwhelmed Rufus sat next to a very annoyed Flynn._

_"That doesn't matter now. Get up, we're going out!" Connor announced with enthusiasm._

_Flynn and Wyatt looked to Rufus. It was his bachelor party, after all._

_"... Fine. But only after the pizza arrives. We ordered a few boxes and some of you look like you need it."_

_"Not our fault Hank can't hold his liquor." Kevin snickered._

_"You're not 21." Rufus tried to play the responsible older brother, but one look from both Kevin and Connor had him backing down._

_"I take full responsibility for Kevin tonight." Connor said with a smile._

_Rufus merely gaped at his mentor. There are many things he could trust Connor with—his life, even—just not his brother's well-being, especially when there's alcohol involved._

_His face might have said as much as Connor clapped him on the back. "Oh, lighten up, dear boy. I can be responsible around children. Sometimes."_

_It was Kevin's turn to look at Connor askance._

_"I guess we'll order more pizza?" Wyatt was scratching the back of his head, looking at Rufus and Flynn. The former looked like he'd like to have the zoo contained in the house, while the latter looked like he would rather have them anywhere but._

_Dave came up beside Wyatt, frowning slightly at their faces. "Rufus, this is your last night as a single man. We are totally going to hit the bars tonight!"_

_"Uh, we've got a nice bottle of scotch here..." Rufus suggested._

_"Trust me, that won't be enough for these thirsty animals," Dave countered with a wave at their noisy group. "Come on. For the last night of your single life."_

_Rufus looked to Wyatt and Flynn for help, and got none. Well, it was only one night._

_What's the harm with a few drinks before getting hitched?_

* * *

_Thirty minutes later found Rufus regretting his decision to leave the house. He was currently stuck inside of a party bus with his groomsmen. There was a stripper dancing around one of the poles...At least he HOPED it was a stripper. You never know with Connor._

_He glanced towards Flynn and Wyatt. They both looked bored. Flynn was sipping on a beer and texting on his phone. Rufus hoped it wasn't Lucy. Wyatt, on the other hand, was watching the stripper, but he looked like he was about to fall asleep._

_Kevin was having way too much, in his opinion, he kept sneaking sips of whatever alcoholic beverage was closest to him. Connor was too busy grinding on the other pole to watch the kid._

_"We're here!!" Dave yelled from beside the driver._

_Rufus was more than happy to exit as fast as he could. What he wasn't expecting was to be standing in front of a strip club._

_"Dave, Rufus said no strip club." Flynn sighed, suddenly behind Rufus._

_Rufus couldn't see him, but he could hear his eye roll as he spoke, "I KNOW that. We're not here for the strippers… Well, not ALL of us are. I know the owner. He gave us the party room."_

_"What the hell is a party room?" Wyatt asked, not liking this one bit._

_"Don't be such a girl. I asked for tables to be set up for poker since none of you want to have any fun. Besides, I doubt any of you would want any of the strippers reserved for the party room." With that, Dave walked in with Kevin right on his tail._

_Rufus sighed and shook his head. He turned to look at Flynn and Wyatt, both just shrugged._

_"I'll follow in a bit." Connor said. His arm wrapped around the 'stripper'. "Don't have too much fun. This place has a reputation."_

_"C'mon, Rufus. Poker is better than Dave inviting a bunch of strippers to Flynn's house. Lucy would kill all of us." Wyatt conceded with a glance at Flynn._

_"I'd hate to die because we were surrounded by strippers." Flynn said sarcastically, but pushed them through the door._

_They were all ready to be visually and audibly assaulted, but they were NOT really ready._

_"Daaaaave?" Wyatt yelled over the heavy bass, head whipping around to look for his friend. He was not avoiding the gyrating bodies on stage. "This isn't the strip joint we had in mind."_

_Dave scoffed, slapping him on the back. "Chill, man. We're here for the party room, remember?"_

_Poor young Kevin looked mesmerized. "I didn't know you could—"_

_Rufus' consciousness seemed to have re-engaged and shielded his younger brother's vision with his hand. "BamBam! What the hell??"_

_Their other companions didn't look like they fared any better. Flynn, who was standing behind Kevin, looked very amused._

_"This is looking to be an entertaining night," he remarked with a smirk._

_"Dave... this is a gay strip club." Rufus pointed out, as if everything around him didn't drive home that fact._

_Dave just chuckled at the scandalized face everyone but Flynn was making. "What did you expect from a strip club called Mannequin?"_

_"Party room?" Flynn asked, staring at one particular stripper, but a sharp jab in his side moved his attention to Wyatt. "What?"_

_"You're a married man! Stop looking!" Wyatt hissed._

_"Seriously? What am I gonna do, leave Lucy for a male stripper?" Flynn rolled his eyes._

_"I don't know, maybe one of them can gyrate better than her and you want the experience."_

_Flynn took a deep breath as the rest of the party quickly scurried away. "I'm not you Wyatt. I won't cheat on my wife." He takes a menacing step closer, "And if you ever insinuate that I'd want anyone but Lucy, I'll turn your son into an orphan. Are we clear?"_

_Wyatt bit back a retort. He knew he shouldn't have said anything and he was doing better with not sticking his foot in his mouth, but he slipped sometimes. He lowered his head, "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean—"_

_"Which one of you wants a private show?" A voice interrupted them._

_They both turned to see a man a little younger than Wyatt with a nice smile and shirtless. Wyatt instantly turned red and looked extremely frightened while Flynn was more than amused._

_"Sorry, just looking for the party room." Flynn answered._

_"Shame." The attractive man said before escorting them to the party room._

_Wyatt practically shut down as he got more attention then he wanted from other patrons. Flynn, on the other hand, made small talk with the stripper._

_Once in the back room and around their friends, Wyatt relaxed._

_"You sure look comfortable in this place," Wyatt murmured through the side of his mouth to Flynn as they entered their room._

_"Eh, they're people," Flynn answered easily. "Maybe sometimes a little too horny and probably doesn't have the plumbing you wanted, but no different from any other person." He shot a narrowed look his way. "Do you have a problem with that?"_

_"No, no!" he hastily replied. "It's just..." How do you answer without coming off as homophobic? Ugh. "I'm just worried they'll get handsy." He scratched at the back of his head. That last guy was practically unclothing him with his eyes. He suppressed a shudder._

_Flynn rolled his eyes and left Wyatt to his own devices as he took a seat next at the small bar they had in the corner. Not wanting to participate in the poker game just yet._

_Wyatt sat next to Dave, who looked way too happy. "What are you smiling about?"_

_"You look really uncomfortable." Wyatt just rolled his eyes, making Dave's smile even brighter. "What ‘til you see the dealer."_

_Wyatt was curious about his words until a door opened up and a fully clothed man walked through, making his eyes bug out. "STEVE?!?"_

_The man, Steve, looked over with an amused expression. "Wyatt Logan! I haven't seen you since Fort Benning."_

_Wyatt stood to shake Steve's hand with a confused look. "Yeah it's been a while. What are you doing here?"_

_Steve and Dave shared a look, "I own the club."_

_Wyatt instantly dropped his hand, "Rufus, I want to go home."_

_Rufus was seated at the poker table next to Kevin, trying to keep him away from the alcohol, not paying Wyatt any attention._

_Flynn, on the other hand, was watching Wyatt's conversation and savoring every moment of it. "Looks like one of them got handsy, Wyatt."_

_"Alright!" Steve said loudly, clapping his hands. "Time for some strip poker!"_

_Wyatt blanched._

_"I'm kidding," Steve laughed, taking his seat. "Some good ol' Texas Hold'em, in honor of the Texan here."_

_Wyatt rolled his eyes and sat down, wanting this to the worst of it tonight._

_"Flynn is Texan too," Rufus commented as Steve began to shuffle the cards._

_"On my mother's side," Flynn clarified._

_"Two Texans?" Steve grinned as he started dealing. "Must be my lucky day."_

* * *

* * *

It was at this point of the story when all three men stopped talking. Lucy had, so far, not heard anything too damaging. Just a group of guys going to a gay strip club for a bachelor party. To play poker.

"What's so bad about that?" Lucy asked, tasting her now cold coffee.

"It wasn't bad exactly. Fun, really… until Steve started feeding us drink after drink." Rufus muttered remembering how Steve didn't seem to care that Kevin was underage.

Lucy stood and went to the kitchen to retrieve bottles of water to keep the men hydrated. "Continue."

* * *

* * *

_Copious amounts of alcohol and thousands of dollars later, Rufus' groomsmen were mostly sloshed._

_Except Flynn, of course. He's had decades building up tolerance to alcohol. He'd come home smelling like a brewery, but Lucy wouldn't mind. She trusted him to be the responsible adult in this group, and he'd be damned if he disappointed her._

_He'd joined the boys at the card table for a few rounds, tried to get a feel of the other players' skills. Kevin was allowed to sit in a couple of rounds until he couldn't hold his head up after a bottle and a half of his beer, so Rufus took over for him and let his little brother (hopefully) sleep it off._

_And that's when Flynn sensed the game pick up._

_"Dude, what?" Rufus asked, shaking his head. "I only got half of what you said."_

_"I SAID," Flynn emphasized, "you're getting really good at this, even if you haven't played since college."_

_Rufus tapped his temple, sloshing the contents of his beer in the process, but he didn't seem to mind. "Genius, remember?" He flashed a cheeky grin. "B'sides, college wasn't too long ago for me. Unlike you."_

_Garcia snorted (it might have come off like a raspberry, but eh, semantics). The genius asshole probably gleaned the fact he didn't do college based on his file._

"Začepp-p-i . _Education doesn't end in universities, yanno." He spread his arms. "The world is your school!"_

_A handful of the guys and Wyatt acknowledged him with a, "Hear, hear!" Clearly, it resonated with the guys who'd skipped college and jumped into military experience. (Of course, Garcia had looked into Rufus and Jiya's groomsmen, just to be sure. He wasn't stupid!_

_Oh, what would these idiots do without him?)_

_Steve had also had a few drinks, but was relatively sober compared to everyone else in the room. He kept glancing suspiciously over at Rufus, like he didn't trust him._

_"Why don't you have a few more rounds buddy?" Wyatt asked as he returned from the bar with several more drinks._

_Steve gave Wyatt an assessing look. "Trying to butter me up, soldier?" he drawled, his eyes on the other man as he deftly dealt out the cards._

_Wyatt blinked several times, clearly not expecting the question._

_When he merely gawped at him, Steve winked at him. "That's sweet of you, honey, but I'm on the clock."_

_Wyatt simply stood and just turned redder. Steve found himself enjoying messing with him, but he also wanted to have a crack at the gorgeous tall drink of water._

_Steve looked over and winked at his target and Garcia just smiled kindly in response._

_"How about we dial it up a little?" Steve said, eyes trained on Garcia. "Strip poker?"_

_"Yes! Let's do that! We should get some strippers in here!" Connor said. He was completely wasted._

_Kevin sat next to him and was pretty gone himself. Agreeing with the older man._

_Rufus was shaking his head. His mother was going to kill everyone at this table for getting her baby brother drunk. "Guys I don't think—"_

_"I'll play, if you drink with us!" Wyatt said to Steve with a challenge in his eyes._

_Everyone paused at Wyatt's request and waited for Steve's response._

_"Sure, why not?" Steve answered as he downed the drink Wyatt had gotten him._

_"Great. Now Wyatt's drunkenly exploring his sexuality… at MY bachelor party." Rufus grumbled._

_Flynn slapped him heartily on the back. "Shouldn't be too bad!" he assured. "Let's support his decision for now."_

_Rufus frowned at him. "Do I have a say on how I do NOT want to see his lily white ass?"_

" **I** _wanna see it," Steve chimed in, with another wink Wyatt's way._

_The other man visibly gulped, much to the amusement of Dave and the other guys, who hooted at his flustered look._

_Wyatt was looking more and more uncertain with his decision. "You think I'd lose?"_

_In answer, Steve ran a finger down the buttons of Wyatt's shirt. "Honey._ I know."

* * *

_An hour after Wyatt was shirtless and pantsless. Flynn was down to his tank top. Rufus had actually GAINED clothing as he was presented with a tiara and was wearing Flynn's discarded sweater._

_Steve was down to his g-string and socks, but he looked more comfortable than Wyatt did._

_But that could have been due to the six shots and three beers Wyatt had forced him to drink._

_Kevin and Connor had left at one point and returned with a handful of female strippers and a couple of the male ones._

_Kevin was having too much fun in Rufus's opinion, but he kept quiet._

_He couldn't complain, really. If his little brother was getting into shenanigans, he was at least here to reel him in if things went too far._

_Rufus turned his focus back on the game and caught the tail-end of their host giving him a scrutinizing look before Steve turned his attention to Dave. He made a show of downing the rest of his glass to hide his unease._

_Steve then leaned close to him, pressing his chest against his arm. "I know you're cheating. You're the groom, so I'll let it slide… as long as you wear this." Steve whispered in his ear._

_Rufus shifted to get away from the stripper and to see what he was referring to. "I'm not wearing a tutu." He scoffed._

_"Fine. Then I guess your friends would LOVE to know how you've been so lucky tonight."_

_Rufus and Steve stared at each other for a few long moments before Rufus snatched the pink tutu off of him and put it on as confidently as he could._

_The room exploded with cheer at seeing Rufus don the screaming pink tutu, not even questioning why he did it._

_Flynn gave him another slap on the back, giggling. "Looks like Wyatt isn't the only one exploring today!"_

_"Shut up, Flynn."_

_Someone shouted for another round of drinks, which was met with enthusiastic whoops. The music was turned up, and one side of the room with the strippers started dancing._

_Rufus stood up and walked to the bar, hoping to get some water instead of booze in his system. He heard a chair scraping across the floor and fall backwards and when he turned around Steve had his tongue down a very shocked Flynn's throat._

_"Wow, buddy!" Wyatt said as he pulled the groping Steve off of Flynn. Which only turned Steve's affections onto him. Wyatt had to admit that kissing Steve was… different, but he quickly tossed that thought and Steve away. "Dude!"_

_Steve landed next to Dave and all the soldier did was mush his face away from his as gently as he could. "That's enough drinks for you, Stevie."_

_Steve just pouted and looked back towards Flynn with a leer. "I want him."_

_"He's married, Steve." Dave sighed._

_"But is he happily married?"_

_Flynn looked offended, but kept his mouth shut. Not wanting to start a fight with a drunk stripper. "I think we should go." He said instead._

_Wyatt quickly nodded in agreement, needing to leave this space before his thoughts got away from him… again._

_"Maybe you should stay." Steve said and with speed that belied his drunkenness was clutching onto Flynn again and groping certain parts of him that only Lucy was allowed to touch._

_"Knock that gay shit off Steve!" Wyatt yelled as he grabbed the stripper off of his friend once more._

_Steve looked pissed when he glanced at his old friend. "Aren't you projecting a bit, soldier? Or don't you remember when we were bunkmates at training camp?"_

_It was whispered to him, but Wyatt felt as if he had yelled it. So he did the best logical thing. He punched Steve as hard as he could in the face._

_Which stopped the party and started a fight between groomsmen and strippers._

* * *

* * *

"Let me get this straight." Lucy was pinching the bridge of her nose, her lips twitching. "A brawl broke out because someone had a tongue down Garcia's throat, and you thought it prudent to defend his honor?"

Beside Wyatt, Garcia laid a hand on his own chest with a gasp. "Be still my heart," he announced with a flutter of his lovely eyes. "Wyatt Logan, I didn't know you cared!"

Wyatt tried to shove him off the couch, and failed. It did dislodge the snoozing Rufus from his shoulder and onto his lap.

"I swear. This is the last time I'm bailing your sorry asses out," Wyatt ground out.

Lucy just laughed at them and she stood up and gave Wyatt a kiss on his temple, "Thank you for defending my husband."

Wyatt gently pushed her away in annoyance. "Wouldn't need to defend him if he keeps his clothes on apparently."

"I wasn't the one counting cards."

Everyone looked at the suddenly quiet Rufus and he sat up with an embarrassed smile, "I'm the groom and I SHOULD be winning every hand."

They all rolled their eyes at him before Lucy pointed at the tutu Rufus had yet to remove. "Who won the fight? Please feel free to add as much detail as you can." She smiled at them.

Flynn just smirked over at her, "It wasn't a sexy fight, _draga _."

"Shoo. I'm picturing baby oil and lots of grunting." She closed her eyes to imagine just that when she felt Flynn's lips on hers.

"Nothing like that unfortunately. They put up a good fight, but with a group containing 3 soldiers and some drunken nerd rage, we got the upper hand. We also got banned from the club."

"Everyone but Wyatt." Rufus added.

Lucy looked over at a beet-red Wyatt, questioning him with her eyes. He shifted uncomfortably. "They offered me a job..."

Lucy just stared while the other two men tried to keep their laughter to themselves. They clearly remembered Steve offering the job to him while slowly grinding on him.

"That's… nice." Lucy offered with a confused smile, not sure how she's supposed to respond.

Garcia had a finger over his lips, his face seemingly in deep concentration. "I distinctly remember Steve saying your job includes that on some nights, you will be serving him hand and foot in Leia's slave outfit."

Rufus was already choking on his own spit in laughter even before Garcia finished talking.

Lucy also seemed delighted by this prospect. "Omigosh, really?? Do you need help with your makeup? You'll definitely need help with the makeup. And the wig. And waxing..."

Wyatt made a face at them and stood up, very VERY uncomfortable. "I'm not taking the job. Can we please change the subject?"

Lucy chuckled before noticing something. "Um, sure. How about you tell me how you got that hickey on your neck."

Wyatt blushed harder this time and the other two men tried to get a good look at the hickey. "No. I will not." He said as he left the room. "I'm making more coffee."

"Our little boy’s growing up and getting hickeys." Rufus said to Lucy, who just laughed.

"Wait," Flynn said looking around the room. "Where's Kevin?"

Color drained from Rufus' face. "Didn't he come home with us?"

Wyatt scowled. "I thought he was catching a ride with Connor?"

"No," Garcia drew out the word. "He was on the party bus, and he was supposed to stay the night here."

Rufus started looking about as if expecting his baby brother to pop up before them screaming as a prank. But it did not happen. He started flailing between Garcia and Wyatt, struggling to stand.

"Keviiiiiiiiiiiin??"


End file.
